disappointment

disappoint +‎ -ment

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌdɪsəˈpɔɪntmənt/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌdɪsəˈpɔɪntmənt/

• Audio (General American)

  (file)

disappointment (countable and uncountable, plural disappointments)

1. (uncountable) The feeling or state of being disappointed: a feeling of sadness or frustration when something is not as good as one hoped or expected, or when something bad unexpectedly happens.

   Even a trip to beautiful California can cause disappointment.

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume II, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 184:

     They remembered too keenly their pleasant credulity as to what to-morrow would bring forth, to dare indulge expectation of its pleasure; they had been disappointed once—so might they be again—for disappointment ever leaves fear behind.

   • 1992, News Group Newspapers Ltd, Today:

     Choking back his disappointment after his own team's splendid wins against Liverpool and Aston Villa, he said: "I've got to be humble and say we were beaten by a very good side."

2. (countable) An example or the act of disappointing: a circumstance in which a positive expectation is not achieved.

   The disappointment with our trip to California caused bickering.

   • 2012 May 5, Phil McNulty, “Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool”, in BBC Sport‎:

     For Liverpool, their season will now be regarded as a relative disappointment after failure to add the FA Cup to the Carling Cup and not mounting a challenge to reach the Champions League places.

   • 1990, Peter Hennessy, Cabinet, Basil Blackwell Ltd:

     As the disappointments crowded in — the economy, Rhodesia, strife within the trade-union movement — Wilson tried the expedient of a semi-formal inner Cabinet, or Parliamentary Committee, as he misleadingly liked to call it.

3. (countable) Something or someone that disappoints: that which causes disappointment.

   Even a trip to beautiful California can be a disappointment.

   What a disappointment!

Used with the prepositions at/with/over.

• let-down
• setback

• disappoint