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askance

[uh-skans]

Example Sentences Origin

adverb

with suspicion, mistrust, or disapproval: He looked askance at my offer.

with a side glance; sidewise; obliquely.

Also, a·skant

[uh-skant] .

Origin:
1520–30; earlier a scanche, a sca(u)nce; of obscure origin

Synonyms
1. skeptically, suspiciously.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To askance

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Askance is always a great word to know.

So is doohickey. Does it mean:

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

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Example Sentences

Many parents look askance at flavored milk, concerned that the last thing their children need is more sugar.

Nobody will look askance at presses that get half of their scholarly output from local faculty members.

She must surely be hurt that the workers, too, now look at her askance.

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Many parents look askance at flavored milk, concerned that the last thing their children need is more sugar.

Nobody will look askance at presses that get half of their scholarly output from local faculty members.

She must surely be hurt that the workers, too, now look at her askance.

But regulators seem to be looking askance at these claims.

Until this is accomplished schemes for refinements of our monetary system must be looked at askance.

Hirsh-Pasek is well aware that play purists look askance at including corporations in the pro-play campaign.

Although many locals welcome the new project, some still look askance at its implications.

Congress has looked askance recently at the prices that big telecoms charge for so-called special access lines.

Some prospective employers look askance at sorority networking.

The world is not awash in conjugal shows, but they are no longer looked at askance.

But even he looked askance as he was put on a gurney and a technician hooked him up to a defibrillator in case his heart stopped.

All that has many people looking askance at the eggs in the supermarket and wondering what is safe.

Every sentence he writes either looks at itself askance or ushers in a following sentence that will perform the task.

One can imagine that the two men looked somewhat askance at each other.

He can be a bit of a self-promoter, and the profs seem to look askance at that.

It looks askance at the young people who trickle in, newcomers to the neighborhood who are eager for cheap beer.

Nevertheless, allow me to suggest that chuckkle wasn't looking askance at a teacher reading the riot to malfeasant students.

He can still look askance at a varmint more contemptuously than anyone else.

Then again, the health department probably looked askance at the original's back-alley smoker.

Many employers and even universities also look askance at believers.

Faculty members who once looked askance when asked to take on minority students in their laboratories now clamor for them.

Even boyfriends and dads are looked at askance here.

And while many might look askance at a lawsuit over locks, this is not the first.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

askance or askant (əˈskæns, əˈskænt)

—*adv*
1.	with an oblique glance
2.	with doubt or mistrust

[C16: of unknown origin]

askant or askant

—*adv*

[C16: of unknown origin]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

askance

1520s, "sideways, asquint," of obscure origin; perhaps a variant of askew. Other theories that have been put forth include an origin from M.E. ase "as" + O.Fr. quanses "how if," from L. quam "how" + si "if." Or from O.Fr. a escone, from pp. of a word for "hidden." Or from

EXPAND

It. a scancio "obliquely, slantingly."

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

askance

see look askance.