condescending 1 of 2

condescending

2 of 2

verb

present participle of condescend
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

Synonyms & Similar Words

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

2
as in cutting
to assume or treat with an air of superiority wealthy people who tend to be condescending toward their poor relations

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of condescending
Adjective
That loathsome, condescending, low-brow slur would apparently include the 74 million people who voted for Trump in 2020, a record only Biden himself has bettered on his way to being maybe the worst president ever. Jay Ambrose, Boston Herald, 23 Jan. 2024 Both projects share a similar eye for the grotesquerie of the banal, with a generally condescending perspective toward rural desperation. Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Dec. 2024 Yes, Emily goes on to flip her condescending date the bird before bombarding a top Parisian designer in his box—two decidedly un-Audrey gestures. Lilah Ramzi, Vogue, 11 Sep. 2024 That problem is compounded by a sizable chunk of the French electorate’s view of him as highhanded, condescending and arrogant — a former investment banker, the product of elite schools, unversed in the problems of ordinary people. Lee Hockstader, Washington Post, 1 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for condescending 
Recent Examples of Synonyms for condescending
Adjective
  • The same is true of the inconsistent — and patronizing — use of translation.
    Samuel Ashworth, Washington Post, 24 July 2024
  • And in its attempt to leverage something that wasn’t entirely its to claim, at times the CNRP betrayed a view of the masses that was not only instrumentalist and patronizing but also almost feudal in its assumptions about the relationship between people and power.
    Stéphanie Giry, Foreign Affairs, 2 Sep. 2015
Adjective
  • Saxon, for instance, is filling the same spoiled, arrogant space as Jake Lacy’s Shane from Season One.
    Alan Sepinwall, Rolling Stone, 11 Feb. 2025
  • From director James Ashcroft (Coming Home in the Dark), who co-wrote the script with Eli Kent, The Rule of Jenny Pen centers on arrogant judge Stefan Mortensen (Rush), who has to live in a retirement home after a near-fatal stroke leaves him partially paralyzed.
    Sydney Bucksbaum, EW.com, 3 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • He’s had something of a habit of playing domineering fathers, doing so on Ugly Betty (2006–2007) and as Charles Widmore on Lost (2006–2010).
    Sezin Devi Koehler, EW.com, 8 Feb. 2025
  • The stress of being a loyal husband and father while toiling tirelessly at Spacely Space Sprockets – headed by a domineering man with a Napoleon complex – seems to float away as the zooming saucer-like aero cars with large bubble roofs leave behind popcorn-like residue from fuel pellets and radium.
    Natasha Gural, Forbes, 6 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • President-Elect Donald Trump is openly disdainful of many governments in Europe and seems willing to walk away from America’s role as the continent’s protector.
    Phillips Payson O’Brien, The Atlantic, 13 Jan. 2025
  • Now, the norms for AI will emerge in a political and cultural environment that's hostile to regulation and disdainful of limits.
    Scott Rosenberg, Axios, 8 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Tensions run high toward the middle of the month, as the moon will peak in Leo and your bossy 10th house of authority and reputation.
    Valerie Mesa, People.com, 7 Feb. 2025
  • As the sun and Mercury ignite your bossy 10th house of reputation, ambition and reputation, you’re encouraged to push forward with your professional goals and show the world what you’re made of.
    Valerie Mesa, People.com, 19 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • Still, in many voters’ minds, the association between Democrats and supercilious scolding seems hard to shake.
    Andrew Marantz, The New Yorker, 14 Dec. 2024
  • Even Lu, most closed and supercilious of the bunch, has weird, troubled reservoirs of shame that gradually start to froth and bubble.
    Sara Holdren, Vulture, 19 Sep. 2024
Adjective
  • More specifically, the impudent Skull Kid steals the Ocarina of Time and turns Link into a Deku Scrub, those antagonistic tree cannons first introduced in Ocarina.
    Ashley Bardhan, Vulture, 27 Sep. 2024
  • In short, Moscow sees Montenegro as both strategically valuable and an impudent upstart that has thumbed its nose at the Russian bear while genuflecting before NATO and Washington.
    Edward P. Joseph, Foreign Affairs, 22 Dec. 2016
Adjective
  • His pairing with Aho has been as dominant as the MacKinnon-Necas duo … except on the scoreboard.
    Corey Masisak, The Denver Post, 16 Feb. 2025
  • The dominant objective of this administration is corruption and lawlessness.
    CBS News, CBS News, 16 Feb. 2025

Thesaurus Entries Near condescending

Cite this Entry

“Condescending.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/condescending. Accessed 21 Feb. 2025.

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