disappoint

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
15
Words With Friends
18
Letters
10
Pronunciation
/dɪsəˈpɔɪnt/(UK)
See all 2 pronunciations
/dɪsəˈpɔɪnt/(UK) · /ˌdɪsəˈpɔɪnt/(US)

Definition of disappoint

5 senses · 1 part of speech · etymology included

verb

  1. (transitive)To sadden or displease (someone) by underperforming, or by not delivering something promised or hoped for.
    “His lack of respect disappointed her.”
    “I was disappointed by last year’s revenue.”
    “Here are officers enough at Meryton to disappoint all the young ladies in the country.”
    “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.”
See all 5 definitions

verb

  1. (transitive)To sadden or displease (someone) by underperforming, or by not delivering something promised or hoped for.
    “His lack of respect disappointed her.”
    “I was disappointed by last year’s revenue.”
    “Here are officers enough at Meryton to disappoint all the young ladies in the country.”
    “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.”
  2. (transitive)To deprive (someone of something expected or hoped for).
    “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.”
    “1637, Thomas Killigrew, The Parson’s Wedding, Act V, Scene 4, in Comedies and Tragedies, London: Henry Herringman, 1664, p. 152, Bless me from an old waiting-womans wrath; she’l never forgive me the disappointing her of a promise when I was drunk;”
    “1707, extract from Lord Caryll’s letters, in James Macpherson (ed.), Original Papers: containing the secret history of Great Britain, from the restoration, to the accession of the House of Hannover, London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1775, Volume 2, p. 86, You tell me, that the hasty departure of Mr. Rysehoven [Marlborough] out of town disappointed you of speaking to him, of which the loss, I think, is not very great;”
    “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.”
    “[…] you shan’t be disappointed of a wedding—you shall come to mine.”
  3. (dated, transitive)To fail to meet (an expectation); to fail to fulfil (a hope).
    “1751, Samuel Johnson, The Rambler, No. 127, 4 June, 1751, Volume 4, London: J. Payne and J. Bouquet, 1752, pp. 240-241, It is not uncommon for those who at their first entrance into the world were distinguished for eminent attainments or superior abilities, to disappoint the hopes which they had raised, and to end in neglect and obscurity that life which they began in celebrity and honour.”
    “[…] his life was despaired of; and all Japan was filled with alarm and apprehension at the prospect of an infant’s ascending the throne: […] Their fears, however, were happily disappointed by the recovery of the emperor,”
    ““But perhaps your accommodations—your cottage—your furniture—have disappointed your expectations?””
    “The boy’s confidence in her hospitality touched Mrs. Bhaer, and she could not find the heart to disappoint his hope, and spoil his kind little plan […]”
    “[…] a change in prices and rewards, as measured in money, generally affects different classes unequally […] and redistributes Fortune’s favours so as to frustrate design and disappoint expectation.”
  4. (dated, transitive)To show (an opinion, belief, etc.) to be mistaken.
    “I am sure you will not disappoint my opinion of you, by failing at any time to treat your aunt Norris with the respect and attention that are due to her.”
    ““Well, I thought it was too good to be true,” he said at last, with a sigh of disappointed conviction.”
  5. (obsolete, transitive)To prevent (something planned or attempted).
    “He [God] disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.”
    “The wary Trojan shrinks, and bending low Beneath his Buckler, disappoints the Blow.”
    “But heavy rains, the difficulties of the country, and the good intelligence which the Outlaw was always supplied with, disappointed their well-concerted combination.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

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".

Words you can make from disappoint

200+ playable · top: OPPIDANS (13 pts)

Best play oppidans 13 points

8-letter words

4 words

7-letter words

11 words

6-letter words

25 words

5-letter words

72 words

4-letter words

87 words

Hooks

1 extension · 1 back

A single letter you can add to disappoint to make another valid word.

Find your best play with disappoint

See every word you can make from a set of letters that includes disappoint, or browse word lists you can mine for high-scoring plays.