How to Use condescend in a Sentence

condescend

verb
  • I will not condescend to answer the sore loser's charge that I cheated in order to win the race.
  • These screamers can no longer be condescended to, as a quirky sideshow to pop music.
    — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 9 Feb. 2024
  • Laugh-track shows were coming to seem not just condescending but also stiff and fusty.
    — Jacob Stern, The Atlantic, 15 Apr. 2024
  • His habit of rolling his eyes in mock disbelief struck some as condescending.
    — Ron Elving, NPR, 7 Sep. 2024
  • At the same time, stay-at-home moms are envied at least as often as they are condescended to.
    — Lyman Stone, Vox, 11 May 2018
  • The straight guys being made over were condescended to in a way that did little good for either side.
    — Richard Lawson, HWD, 30 May 2018
  • New-school thinking is that such chivalry can be condescending.
    — Michelle Singletary, BostonGlobe.com, 1 June 2018
  • Lewis could be condescending to the media and, by extension, to the fans.
    — John Fay, Cincinnati.com, 21 Dec. 2019
  • Eastwood would not make a film that condescended to a suburban woman proud of her hero son.
    — Rumaan Alam, The New Republic, 20 Dec. 2019
  • Byron’s fellow-nobles, by and large, did not condescend to grieve him publicly.
    — Anthony Lane, The New Yorker, 26 Feb. 2024
  • The character hates people who condescend to her, and the camera never looks down on her.
    — Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 2 Apr. 2020
  • Alex spends most of the book being condescending to Sophie, and yet she is transfixed by him.
    — Los Angeles Times, 7 July 2025
  • Avoid asking about their next steps or career ambitions, as this can come across as condescending.
    — Tracy Brower, Forbes, 24 Sep. 2024
  • But you people harried her and condescended to her and insulted her and never gave her the time of day.
    — George Saunders, The Atlantic, 14 Feb. 2025
  • Some of it reflects condescending attitudes that poor people don't know what's good for them.
    — Andrew Stanton, MSNBC Newsweek, 21 May 2025
  • They've been accused of joining wrestling to be around boys, gotten condescending looks and have been insulted.
    — David J. Kim, The Courier-Journal, 19 Dec. 2019
  • Not trying to patronize or condescend to people, but to say, 'Hey, this is my viewpoint.
    — Rachel Yang, EW.com, 17 June 2021
  • Fanning has a ball as the snooty and condescending Abby, who cloaks all her insults with a sing-song lilt and a sunny smile.
    — Kristen Baldwin, EW.com, 5 Sep. 2024
  • The ambassador, once he was done laughing, explained himself with the air of a man condescending to a woman.
    — Nell Zink, Harper's Magazine, 28 Feb. 2025
  • But despite its origins as a tale for young people, McBride never condescends.
    — Tayari Jones, New York Times, 23 Oct. 2017
  • Men are socialized to be condescending toward women, and even the few who check themselves often fail.
    — Cheryl Strayed and Steve Almond, New York Times, 13 Mar. 2018
  • Johannes acts as a stand-in for all the shitty men women in music have to deal with, the ones who condescend, belittle, mansplain, and gaslight.
    — Kathleen Newman-Bremang, Refinery29, 26 Jan. 2026
  • Michelle tries to correct the record, with her babydoll voice, and Jasmine starts yelling at her and telling her not to condescend to her and talk to her like a child.
    — Brian Moylan, Vulture, 16 Apr. 2026
  • In that process, the question of victimhood is bound to arise and, sure, there are ways to go about that that are patronizing or condescending.
    — J.p Brammer, Los Angeles Times, 3 Aug. 2023
  • The Biden coverup and the condescending male outreach efforts would have probably been enough to sink the campaign.
    — Matt Fleming, Oc Register, 2 June 2025
  • Yet the paintings never gave the viewer permission to condescend to the subject matter.
    — Washington Post, 27 Dec. 2021
  • Friedenberg for Commentary, and now his own writer was condescending to him in someone else’s pages.
    — Louis Menand, The New Yorker, 21 Apr. 2017
  • What could read as condescending about the Arthurs—which didn’t, to me—comes from a genuine fondness for this kind of community.
    — Hazlitt, 3 June 2022
  • Ronan, a good five years older than high-school age, never condescends to the character by playing up the cluelessness of her youth.
    — Richard Lawson, HWD, 2 Sep. 2017
  • What makes Hudson’s performance so potent is its refusal to condescend.
    — Clayton Davis, Variety, 27 Oct. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'condescend.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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