askance

Related to askance: eventually, painstakingly, look askance

look askance at (someone or something)

To view or regard someone or something in a disapproving or distrustful manner. I can't understand why everyone in this club is looking askance at me. Am I not wearing the right clothes? Some people look askance at these institutions, but I believe they are beneficial to the public.
See also: askance, look

look askance upon (someone or something)

To view or regard someone or something in a disapproving or distrustful manner. Such is the state of politics these days that even the most patriotic citizens tend to look askance upon the manner in which congress conducts business. I know that the Ivy League students may look askance upon a country bumpkin such as myself, but I will show them that I have the mettle to be their equal.
See also: askance, look, upon
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

look askance at someone or something

Fig. to be surprised or shocked at someone or something. The teacher looked askance at the student who had acted so rudely. Everyone had looked askance at her efforts as an artist.
See also: askance, look
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

look askance

View with mistrust, as in They looked askance at him when he said he'd just made a million in the stock market. The precise feeling conveyed by this expression has varied since it was first used in the 1500s, from envy to contempt to suspicion, although the literal meaning was "look obliquely, with a side glance." The present sense dates from about 1800. Also see look sideways.
See also: askance, look
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

look askance, to

To view with doubt, suspicion, or mistrust. This term dates back to the sixteenth century and literally means “to look sideways,” but it has had somewhat different significance over the years. Sometimes it meant to look enviously, at other times to look scornfully or contemptuously. The present meaning dates from about 1800, and Washington Irving used it in Tales of a Traveller (1824): “Eyeing the enemy askance from under their broad hats.”
See also: look
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • look askance
  • look askance at
  • look askance at (someone or something)
  • look sideways at
  • look sideways at (someone or something)
  • look askance upon (someone or something)
  • unite
  • unite against
  • unite against (someone or something)
  • united
References in periodicals archive
Pakistan's close ties with the Kingdom are looked upon with suspicion by Tehran, although it is not in the former's own interest to be involved in a shooting war based on a personalised, sectarian misadventure, while Pakistan looks askance at Iran's deepening ties with existential threat India, and recent leasing of Chahbahar to the Indians, though it is being assured that the port would not be used against Pakistan.
Pendulum-like relationship
Trouble is, there's also a bit of 'looking askance' or 'looking down' on so-called 'exotic' cooking cultures, the not-so-covert implications being that 'ours' isn't as good or as 'civilized' as 'theirs.'
Looking down on 'exotic' cooking culture
India has looked askance at the project as parts of it run through Pakistan-administered Kashmir that India considers its own territory, though Wang said the plan had nothing to do with territorial disputes.
China, Pakistan to look at including Afghanistan in $57 billion CPEC
Some states look askance even at this, wanting to preserve the flexibility of customary law, but Lijnzaad says that identifying customary international law matters to the work of courts and tribunals, and it is judges who are frequently called upon not only to decide a case on the basis of customary rules, but--prior to that--to establish that a particular rule in fact exists.
The Judge and International Custom
with hairstyles totally askance, walking with flat shoes, walking in a very natural manner without trying to seduce the public.
Shock wave
and meager and dirty and silly and askance with its pitiful little
First Elegy for the Appalachians
But at least one Arkansas legislator looked askance at the junket.
Appearances matter
Naturally, things don't always go to plan - the original budgets and deadlines become specks in the distance, the owners struggle to cope with the stress, much-needed materials don't turn up, and McCloud occasionally looks askance at their plans.
Designs don't have to be grand to satisfy Kevin
Or, at the very least, we isolate ourselves and quake in our boots whenever another world power looks askance at us.
Lay down your weapons
Viewed askance by some of his peers, he has been publicly criticized by his former primate, Peter Akinola, as being too close to the West.
Building bridges a priority for the new Communion secretary general
As someone wrote recently, women who would look askance at being asked to take part in the often brutal sexual practices described, can't seem to get enough of the film and book.
Vicarious pleasure a big draw
THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE Tuesday, Film4, 6.50pm Carry on courting: Alan Bennett looks askance at the faffing and flummery of life in Windsor Castle as various quacks try to reacquaint George III with reason in the 1780s.
3TO SEE; o MOVIES By Monty Smith We love
Small wonder, then, that between the 16th and 19th centuries, master globe-makers guarded their trade secrets closely, looked askance at their rivals and tended to establish family dynasties.
The Art and History of Globes
Blume, who briefly figures in Joanna Rakoff's My Salinger Year looking askance at the placement of her books on the shelves in the offices of a former agent, says she'll spend the summer revising her manuscript.
Judy Blume is Publishing a New Novel for Adults