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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

askance.

Of a glance or look: with disapproval, skepticism, or suspicion.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adv/əˈskæns/UK/əˈskɑːns/UK/əˈskæns/US

  1. Of a glance or look: with disapproval, skepticism, or suspicion.

    not-comparable
    The beggar asked for change, but the haughty woman only looked at him askance.

  2. Obliquely, sideways.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Unknown. Possibly from Middle English askances (“as if”), or from Old French a escone (“hidden”) or Italian a scancio (“obliquely”). Compare asquint, Middle English askoyn (“at a slant, askance”), Dutch schuin, schuins (“sideways”), schuiven (“to shove”), schuinte (“slope”).

adj/əˈskæns/UK/əˈskɑːns/UK/əˈskæns/US

  1. Turned to the side, especially of the eyes.

    not-comparable
Where this word comes from

Unknown. Possibly from Middle English askances (“as if”), or from Old French a escone (“hidden”) or Italian a scancio (“obliquely”). Compare asquint, Middle English askoyn (“at a slant, askance”), Dutch schuin, schuins (“sideways”), schuiven (“to shove”), schuinte (“slope”).

verb/əˈskæns/UK/əˈskɑːns/UK/əˈskæns/US

  1. To look at (someone or something) with a sideways glance.

    rare · transitive

  2. To turn (one's eye or gaze) to the side.

    rare · transitive
Where this word comes from

Unknown. Possibly from Middle English askances (“as if”), or from Old French a escone (“hidden”) or Italian a scancio (“obliquely”). Compare asquint, Middle English askoyn (“at a slant, askance”), Dutch schuin, schuins (“sideways”), schuiven (“to shove”), schuinte (“slope”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.