Disapprove

How to spell disapprove

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce disapprove

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does disapprove mean?

1. verbTo regard something or someone as wrong, bad, or unacceptable; to withhold approval.

Disapprove in a sentence

• Her parents strongly disapprove of the late-night meetings.

• The committee may disapprove the budget if the figures look inflated.

Where does disapprove come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This is a negative built on the verb 'approve', which reached English in the 1300s through Old French aprover from the Latin approbare. That Latin verb combined ad- 'to' with probare 'to test, to prove or judge as good', the same probare that gives us 'probe', 'prove' and 'probation'. So at its root 'approve' meant to judge something and find it good. The prefix dis-, meaning 'not' or 'the reverse of', was added in English around the 1400s to flip that judgement, producing the sense 'to consider something bad or wrong'. The spelling trap lives in the seam between the parts: the single s of dis- meets the doubled p of approbare, so the word is one s and two p's, never the other way round.

How the word is built

• dis- (not, opposite of)
• approve (to regard as good, from Latin approbare)