countenance vs approval

countenance and approval both are nouns.

Word	Noun	Adjective	Verb	Adverb
countenance	Yes	No	Yes	No
approval	Yes	No	No	No

As nouns, approval is a hypernym of countenance; that is, approval is a word with a broader meaning than countenance:

Other hypernyms of countenance include commendation.

countenance (noun)	approval (noun)
the appearance conveyed by a person's face	the formal act of approving
the human face (`kisser' and `smiler' and `mug' are informal terms for `face' and `phiz' is British)	a message expressing a favorable opinion
formal and explicit approval	a feeling of liking something or someone good
	acceptance as satisfactory

countenance (verb)	approval (verb)
consent to, give permission; permit