as in patronizing
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1
as in stooping
to descend to a level that is beneath one's dignity
I will not condescend to answer the sore loser's charge that I cheated in order to win the race
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2
as in cutting
to assume or treat with an air of superiority
wealthy people who tend to be condescending toward their poor relations
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Examples of condescending in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Sean Neumann, Peoplemag, 27 Sep. 2023
Its battery is dead, but that doesn’t stop him from being very condescending to Gabbie (who is paying him $2,000 for his time).
—Odie Henderson, BostonGlobe.com, 25 July 2023
The Taskforce urges that any legislative or regulatory steps taken to deprive marginal consumers of access to small- dollar loan products be grounded in sound economic theory and empirical evidence and not in unfounded and condescending stereotypes of the consumers who use these products.
—John Fund, National Review, 16 May 2021
Attitude is everything in such matters, and, where Irvin had made a New Yorker in the unlikely image of a condescending Regency beau, Glaser consolidated all the pizzazz and aggressive irreverence of the Madison Avenue manner into a handful of department headings and fonts.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2023
See all Example Sentences for condescending 
Adjective
In the new Netflix series Wrestlers, streaming now, the showrunners and performers behind the scrappy Ohio Valley Wrestling (OVW) lean into the condescending critique and willingly pull back the curtain on the reality behind one of society’s most surreal art forms.
—Sean Neumann, Peoplemag, 27 Sep. 2023
Its battery is dead, but that doesn’t stop him from being very condescending to Gabbie (who is paying him $2,000 for his time).
—Odie Henderson, BostonGlobe.com, 25 July 2023
The Taskforce urges that any legislative or regulatory steps taken to deprive marginal consumers of access to small- dollar loan products be grounded in sound economic theory and empirical evidence and not in unfounded and condescending stereotypes of the consumers who use these products.
—John Fund, National Review, 16 May 2021
Attitude is everything in such matters, and, where Irvin had made a New Yorker in the unlikely image of a condescending Regency beau, Glaser consolidated all the pizzazz and aggressive irreverence of the Madison Avenue manner into a handful of department headings and fonts.
—Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 20 Mar. 2023
See all Example Sentences for condescending
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'condescending.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Thesaurus Entries Near condescending
Cite this Entry
“Condescending.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/condescending. Accessed 31 Oct. 2024.
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