Disappoint Meaning
/dɪsəˈpɔɪnt/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbTo sadden or displease (someone) by underperforming, or by not delivering something promised or hoped for.
verbTo deprive (someone of something expected or hoped for).
Sentence Examples
I'll try not to disappoint you next time.
He didn't want to disappoint his wife by giving up his new position.
Her decision to cancel the concert is bound to disappoint her fans.
CEFR Practice Quiz
I hope my final grade does not ____ my parents after their support.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I'll try not to ____ you next time.
Word Origin & History
From Middle French desapointer (compare French désappointer). The word originally meant to "dispossess of appointed office", and eventually broadened to mean "to frustrate the expectations or desires of" and "defeat the realization or fulfillment of".
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Here are officers enough at Meryton to disappoint all the young ladies in the country."
— 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter 1, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 12:
"My father liked his rice light and fluffy, but separate. […] Since he’d gone so long without a taste, the possibility of disappointing him weighed heavily on my mother."
— 2007, Edwidge Danticat, Brother, I’m Dying, New York: Knopf, Part 2, “Transition,”:
"They that haue money in their purse, are afrayde and in doubte, yea and are continuallye martyred with feare, leaste GOD should disappoint them of their pray, and abate their portion."
— 1574, Arthur Golding, transl., Sermons of Master John Calvin, upon the Booke of Job, London: Lucas Harison and George Byshop, Sermon 32, p. 163:
"Miss Courteney […] sat down again, tho’ with some reluctance, telling his lordship that she would not be the means of disappointing him of his coffee; but that she must insist upon being permitted to withdraw in half an hour, having business of consequence upon her hands."
— 1758, Charlotte Lennox, Henrietta, London: A. Millar, Volume 1, Book 2, Chapter 8, p. 178:
"[…] you shan’t be disappointed of a wedding—you shall come to mine."
— 1885, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert; Arthur Sullivan, composer, […] The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu, London: Chappel & Co., […], →OCLC, Act II, page 32:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
I hope my final grade does not ____ my parents after their support.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I'll try not to ____ you next time.