Condescend

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˌkɒndɪˈsɛnd/

Definitions

1. To behave as if one is more important or intelligent than others ; to perform an action while feeling that it is beneath one's status
2. To act with an air of superiority toward others ; to carry out a task grudgingly because of a sense of being above it
3. To display patronizing behavior by treating others as inferior ; to reluctantly agree to do something that one considers below oneself

Etymology: The verb began as a literal act of coming down. Its Latin ancestor "condescendere" combined "con-", a prefix suggesting a bringing together, with "descendere", "to come or go down." Ecclesiastical Latin writers used it to describe the stooping down of a superior toward those below, and the sense of lowering oneself to meet an inferior was present from the start, long before anyone used it as an insult. It reached English through Old French "condescendre", which meant both "to descend" and "to agree or assent to." That second sense is the key to the word's Middle English life. Medieval writers used "condescenden" to mean to deign, to yield graciously, or to give consent, so a person who condescended was often being gracious rather than rude. The modern sense of patronizing behavior, treating others as beneath oneself, grew out of this idea of stooping to agree.

Synonyms: patronize, deign, stoop

Antonyms: respect, honor