disappoint

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When you expect someone or something to do well, but they don't meet those expectations, they've disappointed you.

The word "disappoint" can sometimes get tricky because it has a few different uses. If you say that an event was disappointing, you mean that it didn't live up to your hopes or expectations. On the other hand, if someone disappoints another person, it usually means that they broke their promise or let them down in some way. For example, "I was disappointed when my favorite team lost the game" and "My friend was disappointed because I didn't show up for our plans".

How common is "disappoint"?

Word disappoint is considered uncommon in modern English.
It has a balanced usage among all categories: speech, fiction, newspapers and academic texts.

Definitions

verb

(transitive) To sadden or displease (someone) by underperforming, or by not delivering something promised or hoped for.
Example: His lack of respect disappointed her.
(transitive) To deprive (someone of something expected or hoped for).
Example: 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;
(transitive, dated) To fail to meet (an expectation); to fail to fulfil (a hope).
Example: 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.
(transitive, dated) To show (an opinion, belief, etc.) to be mistaken.
(transitive, obsolete) To prevent (something planned or attempted).