How to Use frown in a Sentence

frown

1 of 2 verb
  • She was frowning when she entered the room, so I knew that she was annoyed about something.
  • Do not turn that frown upside down.
    — Emma Li, CBS News, 6 Feb. 2026
  • Need to turn that frown upside down?
    — Aj Willingham, AJC.com, 29 Apr. 2026
  • Mother frowned, then perked up.
    — Literary Hub, 24 Apr. 2026
  • That sort of thing is frowned on by the powers that be, of course.
    — John Archibald | [email protected], al, 9 Feb. 2020
  • But frown with your co-workers and clients and bosses, not at them.
    — Liana Finck, The New Yorker, 27 Oct. 2023
  • Many of the drawings show faces, and most of the faces are frowning.
    — Mckenzie Funk, ProPublica, 26 Feb. 2026
  • That wasn’t something that was frowned upon.
    — Max Gao, HollywoodReporter, 16 Sep. 2025
  • Some cultures even frown on eating with your hands in public.
    — Jonathan Coopersmith, Quartzy, 14 Sep. 2019
  • Smoking in many places is now equally frowned upon.
    — Duncan Madden, Forbes.com, 14 Aug. 2025
  • In much of the world, this sort of gathering would be frowned upon or even banned.
    — The Christian Science Monitor, 13 Apr. 2020
  • But that’s sadly a little bit frowned on in the AI world.
    — IEEE Spectrum, 4 Dec. 2025
  • For some reason, their landlord frowned on the rent being behind months.
    — Oline H. Cogdill, Sun Sentinel, 15 Jan. 2026
  • People will probably frown on it.
    — John Ramos, CBS News, 3 Dec. 2025
  • Putting one’s head above the rest is typically frowned upon.
    — Oscar Täckström, Fortune, 3 Jan. 2026
  • Neither smiling nor frowning, her gaze seems one of purpose.
    — Jennifer Brett, Nashville Tennessean, 16 Nov. 2025
  • Brown continues to make backers frown.
    — Brad Evans, New York Times, 17 Oct. 2025
  • That choice may be harder in the grocery scenario, and a court may frown on that, Honig said.
    — Jason Hanna, CNN, 15 Aug. 2020
  • The answer is no, the person can really frown like with their eyebrows in their dream.
    — Steven Strogatz, Quanta Magazine, 24 Aug. 2022
  • Just as designers frown upon all square furniture in a room, all round is just as big a faux pas.
    — Charlotte Observer, 1 Feb. 2024
  • Once upon a time, the Republican base would have frowned at it, for sure.
    — Gabriel N. Rosenberg, The New Republic, 3 Nov. 2023
  • The candidate Grant had frowned upon before dove right in with his sales pitch.
    — Sarah Jackson, CNBC, 9 Nov. 2025
  • But maybe the universe frowned upon my even posing the question (as did many readers).
    — Sammy Roth, Los Angeles Times, 27 July 2023
  • At certain workplaces, it’s frowned upon to sit, to appear idle or to gather around in groups.
    — Katie Kilkenny, HollywoodReporter, 4 Sep. 2025
  • With that in mind, cleaning or filleting your catch while still at sea or on the lake is largely frowned upon.
    — Joe Cermele, Outdoor Life, 17 June 2026
  • In effect, tanking to build a team for the future is frowned upon but permitted.
    — Tim Cowlishaw, Dallas News, 15 Apr. 2023
  • Time was when bringing any kind of electronic device into the woods would have been frowned upon.
    — The Editors, Field & Stream, 6 Sep. 2019
  • As the odd man out, Meta does not have a public cloud, and its capex increase was frowned upon by investors.
    — Natasha Abellard, CNBC, 6 May 2026
  • The amount was frowned upon by toll opponents who pressured local politicians to block the project.
    — John Sharp | [email protected], al, 29 Aug. 2019
  • But now, with no coach and a stunned program, voters who have the final say on the final four teams are likely to frown and pass.
    — Bill Dwyre, Los Angeles Times, 30 Nov. 2021

frown

2 of 2 noun
  • There's room for laughs amid the tears and smiles amid the frowns.
    — David Oliver, USA Today, 7 Oct. 2025
  • Not a quiver in his lips, yet his frown growing.
    — Noah White, Miami Herald, 3 Dec. 2025
  • The crowd cheered, and the singer turned around, a slight frown on his face.
    — Anne Nickoloff, cleveland.com, 17 Aug. 2017
  • The other is a frown, with what looks like straight lines for eyes.
    — Katherine Timpf, National Review, 28 Feb. 2020
  • The scar where my left nipple used to be is shaped like a long frown.
    — Sascha Cohen, SELF, 17 May 2018
  • But there were more smiles than frowns after the round, no rage to speak of.
    — Steve Dimeglio, USA TODAY, 3 May 2018
  • Numbers might be up, but frowns are also up.
    — Tasha Robinson, Vulture, 16 June 2026
  • There is sure to be something on this list that can turn any frown upside down.
    — Teen Vogue, 3 May 2019
  • The corners of his mouth turned down, not as a frown, but as if holding back tears.
    — Wired, 5 Sep. 2019
  • Turning a smile into a frown, or a frown into a smile.
    — Jim Hemphill, IndieWire, 9 June 2026
  • Those who knew it wasn’t coming down spread the good news to anyone who came with a frown.
    — Los Angeles Times, 1 Jan. 2021
  • This is not about taking that frown and turning it upside-down.
    — Terry Pluto, cleveland, 15 Jan. 2022
  • But once his back was turned, her face fell into a miserable frown.
    — Vanityfair.com, VanityFair.com, 21 Apr. 2017
  • Chris’s kids noticed how his smile melted into a frown.
    — Juli Fraga, Time, 23 Sep. 2025
  • Music can soothe the savage child, and turn frowns upside down.
    — Cheryl Fenton, Parents, 25 Aug. 2023
  • This is Eisenberg, after all, the doyen of the flinch and the frown.
    — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 12 July 2019
  • Birch, in shorts and a T-shirt, listened with a quizzical frown.
    — Nick Romeo, The New Yorker, 15 Mar. 2023
  • The secret is to look for the non-verbals — a smile, a frown, a grimace.
    — Jonathan Vanian, Fortune, 21 May 2021
  • No smiles, no frowns, no fluctuations of body warmth.
    — Literary Hub, 8 June 2026
  • This time a happy face appeared only to be replaced by one with a frown.
    — Ryan Kost, San Francisco Chronicle, 27 July 2021
  • Research also shows that dogs and horses prefer a smile to a frown.
    — Mark Barna, Discover Magazine, 28 Aug. 2018
  • Bill Russell dipped down his newspaper and looked me over with a frown.
    — Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, The Atlantic, 3 Aug. 2022
  • My supervisor told me this with a frown, throwing up his hands.
    — Bryan Washington, The New Yorker, 7 June 2021
  • Laura Dern plays Ethel the nag, the starter wife who enters frown first.
    — Manohla Dargis, New York Times, 19 Jan. 2017
  • But usually, the only outward sign is a frown on my face, and maybe my grumpy mood.
    — Ben Mattlin, CNN, 16 Oct. 2022
  • Your boss doesn't respond to a text, a colleague wears a frown and uses a certain tone of voice.
    — Bryan Robinson, Forbes, 4 Apr. 2021
  • His first glance was the frown of the man; the second was the bland and sickly smile of the demagogue.
    — Washington Post, 3 Sep. 2021
  • Those surrounding the bride stood up and began clapping, their frowns shifting to wide smiles.
    — Rachel Raposas, PEOPLE, 5 Nov. 2025
  • The girls forget a smize and go straight for a frown in the pictures, and keep that attitude throughout the whole meal.
    — Mariah Smith, The Cut, 11 Sep. 2017
  • But turn those frowns upside down, because Goldman Sachs thinks this thing’s still got legs.
    — Bess Levin, vanityfair.com, 20 Sep. 2017

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'frown.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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