frown upon

frown upon (third-person singular simple present frowns upon, present participle frowning upon, simple past and past participle frowned upon)

1. (transitive) To disapprove of.

   Baiting fish is not illegal in this state, but strongly frowned upon.

   • 1962 September, Warren Smith, “The problems of coaching stock rostering and operation”, in Modern Railways, page 193:

     Regular passengers become familiar with their train and attempts to change its make-up or any other aspect of its working are more often than not frowned upon, even though the change is probably for the better.

   • 2025 September 3, Christian Wolmar, “9 to 5: The changing face of commuting”, in RAIL, number 1043, page 57:

     However, working from home permanently is increasingly being frowned upon by employers, and therefore people are coming to work two or three days per week.

• frown on
• frown at