Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To fail to satisfy the hope, desire, or expectation of.
  • intransitive verb To frustrate or thwart.
  • intransitive verb To cause disappointment.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To frustrate the desire or expectation of; balk or thwart in regard to something intended, expected, or wished; defeat the aim or will of: as, do not disappoint us by staying away; to be disappointed in or of one's hopes, or about the weather.
  • To defeat the realization or fulfilment of; frustrate; balk; foil; thwart: as, to disappoint a man's hopes or plans.
  • To hinder of intended effect; frustrate; foil.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To defeat of expectation or hope; to hinder from the attainment of that which was expected, hoped, or desired; to balk
  • transitive verb To frustrate; to fail; to hinder of result.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb To displease by e.g. underperforming

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb fail to meet the hopes or expectations of

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English disappointen, from Old French desapointier, to remove from office : des-, dis- + apointer, apointier, to appoint; see appoint.]

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