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condescend

 - 3 dictionary results

con⋅de⋅scend

  [kon-duh-send]
Use condescend in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to behave as if one is conscious of descending from a superior position, rank, or dignity.
2. to stoop or deign to do something: He would not condescend to misrepresent the facts.
3. to put aside one's dignity or superiority voluntarily and assume equality with one regarded as inferior: He condescended to their intellectual level in order to be understood.
4. Obsolete.
a. to yield.
b. to assent.
Origin:
1300–50; ME condescenden < LL condēscendere (see con-, descend ); r. ME condescendre < MF

Related forms:
con⋅des⋅cend⋅er, con⋅des⋅cend⋅ent, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To condescend
con·de·scend   (kŏn'dĭ-sěnd')   
intr.v.   con·de·scend·ed, con·de·scend·ing, con·de·scends

  1. To descend to the level of one considered inferior; lower oneself. See Synonyms at stoop1.

  2. To deal with people in a patronizingly superior manner.


[Middle English condescenden, from Old French condescendre, from Late Latin condēscendere : Latin com-, intensive pref.; see com- + dēscendere, to descend; see descend.]
con'de·scend'er n.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

condescend 
1340, from O.Fr. condescendere, from L.L. condescendere "to let oneself down," from L. com- "together" + descendere "descend." Originally "to yield deferentially;" sense of "to sink willingly to equal terms with inferiors" is from 1611.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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