disappointment
- 01 B1 Intermediate
the sad feeling you have when something you wanted does not happen or is not as good as you expected.
the emotional state of sadness or frustration arising from the failure of expectations to be realised.
Simple“To my great disappointment, the concert was cancelled at the last minute.”
In context“She struggled to hide her disappointment when the promotion she had worked toward for years was given to a less experienced colleague.”
PitfallHe felt a big disappointment when he failed. He felt great disappointment when he failed.When talking about the general feeling, 'disappointment' is often uncountable and does not need 'a'.
SynonymsAntonyms - 02 B1 Intermediate
a person, thing, or event that is not as good as you hoped it would be.
a specific person, object, or event that fails to meet expectations or standards.
Simple“The new movie was a huge disappointment after all the positive reviews.”
In context“The seasonal harvest proved to be a bitter disappointment for the local farmers, yielding less than half of the projected crop.”
UsageIn this sense, the noun is countable and usually follows 'be' or 'prove to be'.
“There was disappointment for 2025 world indoor champion Amber Anning, who was forced to pull out of the women's 400m final after suffering an injury during her warm-up.”
“Despite her disappointment, this was her 12th senior international medal and she continues to progress her times, lowering her personal best in all but her injury-devastated 2025 season across the past four years.”
From disappoint + -ment.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.