Other forms: disapproved, disapproves, disapproving
To disapprove is to judge that something is wrong. Disapprove of the plan, she disapproved, disapproving look.
It takes of when it names the thing judged, and without it the disapproval is general. A disapproving look is one of the more efficient social sanctions there is. Note disapproval; and that disapprove is not the opposite of approve in the official sense — a refused application is rejected rather than disapproved.
1verbdisapproveTo judge that something is wrong.
“My parents disapprove of my new boyfriend because he rides a motorbike.”
disapprove is a judging against.
Middle English
aproven
English
approve
English, today
disapprove
Built from
From dis- + approve. approve comes from Middle English aproven. From Middle English aproven, appreoven, appreven, apreven, borrowed from Old French aprover, approver, approuvir, appreuver (“to approve”), from Latin approbō, from ad + probō (“to esteem as good, approve, prove”). a doublet of approbate. by surface analysis, ad- + prove.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA