askance
Americanadverb
-
with suspicion, mistrust, or disapproval.
He looked askance at my offer.
- Synonyms:
- suspiciously, skeptically
-
with a side glance; sidewise; obliquely.
adverb
-
with an oblique glance
-
with doubt or mistrust
Etymology
Origin of askance
First recorded in 1520–30; earlier a scanche, a sca(u)nce; of obscure origin
Explanation
You may have trouble watching a gory horror movie, but you also won't be able to look away. Find a happy medium by looking askance, or subtly out of the corner of your eye. First used in the 1500's, no one is quite sure where the cockeyed, slanting adverb askance came from. Some people suspect that it evolved from the Latin a scancio, meaning “obliquely, slantingly,” while others argue that it’s just a variant of the word askew. How fitting for a word that describes a suspicious or distrusting manner of looking that we can't trace its etymology with any surety.
Vocabulary lists containing askance
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
For instance, if you took the standard deduction last year and itemized your deductions this year, the IRS would not look askance.
From MarketWatch • Mar. 23, 2026
An acquisition of BHP’s petroleum business was cheered by investors, though they looked askance at the company’s decision to invest in a low-carbon ammonia project in Texas.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 18, 2025
A few people looked askance at them, their eyes and facial expressions signaling annoyance or disgust mixed with curiosity, but they quickly went back to playing cards or craps.
From Salon • Nov. 12, 2024
If there were any branch that would look askance at “Barbie” for being about a toy, it’s this one.
From New York Times • Jan. 23, 2024
Seferino Pacheco stopped, looking vaguely askance and threateningly at the Easterner perched in the fallen cottonwood.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
