Word Finder - condescension

definition

The act of condescending; a manner of behaving toward others in an outwardly polite way that nevertheless implies one’s own superiority to the others; patronizing courtesy toward inferiors.

example

Conscious condescension breeds panderers and enemies, not friends.

definition

(usually uncountable) A patronizing attitude or behavior.

Natasha did not like the visitor's tone of condescension to childish things.

There was a shade of condescension and patronage in his treatment of Berg and Vera.

Muraviev, who already carried his nomination in his pocket, resented this condescension, and relegated Isvolsky to Belgrade and to Munich, where he had the rank of a minister plenipotentiary.

The law of subordination is based on God's gracious condescension to a sinful humanity in the person of his Son Jesus Christ.

He wrote also a number of essays, such as "My Garden Acquaintance," "A Good Word for Winter," "On a Certain Condescension in Foreigners," which were incursions into the field of nature and society.

It was a time when the pen was more powerful than the sword, when a secretary of state would treat with condescension a Witty pamphleteer, and when such a pamphleteer might hope, not in vain, to become a secretary of state.

Tho while previous entrants had been treated with mocking condescension, Lakeman was treated as a serious contender.

Tho he idealizes the rural petty bourgeoisie, Tolkien treats them with enormous condescension.

Yet do I hymn Thine ineffable condescension, O Word!

Although I see amused condescension, which can be offensive to the modern eye, I don't detect any malice.

It speaks of their defiance of their own constitution, expressly revived by Paul V., forbidding them to meddle in politics; of the great ruin to souls caused by their quarrels with local ordinaries and the other religious orders, their condescension to heathen usages in the East, and the disturbances, resulting in persecutions of the Church, which they had stirred up even in Catholic countries, so that several popes had been obliged to punish them.

A man in intellect and courage, yet without conceit or bravado; a woman in sensibility and tenderness, yet without shrinking or weakness; a saint in purity of life and devotion of heart, yet without asceticism or religiosity; a knight-errant in hatred of wrong and contempt of baseness, yet without self-righteousness or cynicism; a prince in dignity and courtesy, yet without formality or condescension; a poet in thought and feeling, yet without jealousy or affectation; a scholar in tastes and habits, yet without aloofness or bookishness; a dutiful son, a loving husband, a judicious father, a trusty friend, a useful citizen and an enthusiastic patriot, - he united in his strong, transparent humanity almost every virtue under heaven.

He arrogated to himself the privileges of royalty, made servants attend him upon their knees, compelled bishops to tie his shoelatchets and dukes to hold the basin while he washed his hands, and considered it condescension when he allowed ambassadors to kiss his fingers; he paid little heed to their sacrosanct character, and himself laid violent hands on a papal nuncio.

Mrs Carlyle was hurt by the fine lady's condescension and her husband's accessibility to aristocratic blandishments.

So said the mothers as they watched their young people executing their newly learned steps, and so said the youths and maidens themselves as they danced till they were ready to drop, and so said the grown-up young men and women who came to these balls with an air of condescension and found them most enjoyable.

On succeeding to the throne in September 1824 the dignity of his address and his affable condescension won him a passing popularity.

He had a feeling that it was only out of condescension or a kind of civility that this device of placing a channel was employed.