CONDESCEND • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Condescend

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/kˌɑndɪsˈɛnd/ Listen

verb

Condescend v. i. (past & past part. condescended; pres. part. condescending)

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. "Condescend to men of low estate." "Can they think me so broken, so debased With corporal servitude, that my mind ever Will condescend to such absurd commands?" "Spain's mighty monarch, In gracious clemency, does condescend, On these conditions, to become your friend." Note: Often used ironically, implying an assumption of superiority. "Those who thought they were honoring me by condescending to address a few words to me."

To consent. (Obs.) "All parties willingly condescended heruento."

Synonyms: To yield; stoop; descend; deign; vouchsafe.

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Etymology of 'Condescend'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Condescend" Quotes from Famous Books

... her, and said in a dry and dreadful voice: "Oh, don't condescend to play the fool with such a fool as me. Are you really locked up here as a patient—because you helped ...

— The Ball and The Cross • G.K. Chesterton

... penalty of being more or less nice to everyone is that nobody values your niceness: they take it for granted. Whereas the haughty and exclusive, if they do condescend to stoop, are ...

— Penny Plain • Anna Buchan (writing as O. Douglas)

... the acuteness of his apprehending mind to work out a mode of extrication. Augustus Brammel continued abroad, spending his money, and drawing upon the house, with the impudent recklessness which we have already seen to be a prime ingredient in his character. He did not condescend to communicate with his partners, or to give them any information touching his whereabouts, except such as might be gathered from his cheques, which came, week after week, with alarming punctuality, for sums as startling. From this one source of misery, ...

— Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. CCCXXXIX. January, 1844. Vol. LV. • Various

... Adeimantus, ill-naturedly, "he is but one against twenty. But I warn you, Eurybiades, do not call for Themistocles's vote, or the rest of us will be angry. The man whose city is under the power of the Barbarian has no vote in this council, however much we condescend to listen to ...

— A Victor of Salamis • William Stearns Davis

... that Michelangelo stupendous in his fame, that Michelangelo renowned for prudence, that Michelangelo whom all admire, has chosen to display to the whole world an impiety of irreligion only equalled by the perfection of his painting! Is it possible that you, who, since you are divine, do not condescend to consort with human beings, have done this in the greatest temple built to God, upon the highest altar raised to Christ, in the most sacred chapel upon earth, where the mighty hinges of the Church, the venerable priests of our religion, ...

— The Life of Michelangelo Buonarroti • John Addington Symonds

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