Definitions for condescend
ˌkɒn dəˈsɛndcon·de·scend

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. condescendverb

   behave in a patronizing and condescending manner

2. condescend, deign, descendverb

   do something that one considers to be below one's dignity

3. condescend, stoop, lower oneselfverb

   debase oneself morally, act in an undignified, unworthy, or dishonorable way

   "I won't stoop to reading other people's mail"

4. patronize, patronise, condescendverb

   treat condescendingly

WiktionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. condescendverb

   To come down from one's superior position; to deign (to do something).

2. condescendverb

   To treat (someone) as though inferior; to be patronizing (toward someone); to talk down (to someone).

3. condescendverb

   To consent, agree.

4. condescendverb

   To come down.

5. Etymology: From condescenden, from condescendre, from condescendere, from com- + descendere; see descend.

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. To CONDESCENDverb

   Etymology: condescendre, Fr. from descendo, Latin.

   1. To depart from the privileges of superiority by a voluntary submission; to sink willingly to equal terms with inferiours; to sooth by familiarity.

   This method carries a very humble and condescending air, when he that instructs seems to be the enquirer. Isaac Watts.

   2. To consent to do more than mere justice can require.

   Spain’s mighty monarch,
   In gracious clemency does condescend,
   On these conditions, to become your friend. John Dryden, Ind. Em.

   He did not primarily intend to appoint this way; but condescended to it as most accommodate to their present state. John Tillotson, Sermon 5.

   3. To stoop; to bend; to yield; to submit; to become subject.

   Can they think me so broken, so debas’d
   With corporal servitude, that my mind ever
   Will condescend to such absurd commands? John Milton.

   Nor shall my resolution
   Disarm itself, nor condescend to parly
   With foolish hopes. John Denham, Sophy.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. condescend

   Condescension is a form of incivility wherein the speaker displays an attitude of patronizing superiority or contempt. Condescension "is associated with a patronizing attitude, and with other negative words such as divisive, heartless, arrogant, high-handed, [and] dictatorial". The use of condescending language "can derail conversations and, over time, disrupt healthy communities".The meaning of the word has evolved over time. In the eighteenth century, condescension or condescending denoted a positive characteristic of a person of superior breeding, class, or some other superior set of characteristics lowering themselves to speak kindly to an inferior. By the nineteenth century, the word had developed a negative connotation, as evidenced by Charles Dickens in Dombey and Son, where a character is described in contrasting terms as "a little condescending, but extremely kind". "In eighteenth-century prose, it is therefore common to find the word condescension qualified by adjectives such as generous, good, kind, humble, and particularly affable. This last word shows that condescension had become an index not only of ethical practice, but also of personality"."In the Victorian period, the belief in a constructive condescension largely fell away, and the word itself (with exceptions) was given over to its negative connotations. Condescension came primarily to signify self-promotion at another's cost; to condescend was to assert one's own superiority in a way that degraded others".

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. condescend

   To condescend means to show feelings of superiority in a way that is demeaning or patronizing towards others. It often involves behaving as if one is more intelligent or more important than others, often by explaining things in an overly simple way or by treating adults like children.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Condescendverb

   to stoop or descend; to let one's self down; to submit; to waive the privilege of rank or dignity; to accommodate one's self to an inferior

2. Condescendverb

   to consent

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Condescend

   kon-de-send′, v.i. to descend willingly from a superior position: to act kindly to inferiors: to deign: to comply: to lower one's self.—n. Condescend′ence, condescension: (Scots law) an articulate statement annexed to a summons, setting forth the allegations in fact upon which an action is founded.—adj. Condescend′ing, yielding to inferiors: courteous: obliging: patronising.—adv. Condescend′ingly.—n. Condescens′ion, affability to inferiors: courtesy: graciousness.—Condescend upon, to specify: to mention. [L. con, inten., and descendĕre, to descend.]

Matched Categories

1. • Act

How to pronounce condescend?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

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   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say condescend in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of condescend in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of condescend in Pythagorean Numerology is: 5

Examples of condescend in a Sentence

1. George Steiner:

   The violent illiteracies of the graffiti, the clenched silence of the adolescent, the nonsense cries from the stage-happening, are resolutely strategic. The insurgent and the freak-out have broken off discourse with a cultural system which they despise as a cruel, antiquated fraud. They will not bandy words with it. Accept, even momentarily, the conventions of literate linguistic exchange, and you are caught in the net of the old values, of the grammars that can condescend or enslave.

2. Brooks Atkinson:

   Don't condescend to unskilled labor. Try it for half a day first.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=condescend
2. ^ Wiktionary
   https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Condescend
3. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=condescend
4. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condescend
5. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
6. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/condescend
7. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=condescend