condescending
Americanadjective
adjective
Usage
What does condescending mean? To be condescending is to interact with others in a way that implies that you’re superior to them. It especially refers to when this is done in an arrogant or patronizing way—meaning when you act as if you’re doing someone a favor by supposedly lowering yourself to their level of understanding or intelligence. Condescending is always used negatively and implies that such behavior is insulting to the person or people it’s directed toward. The word can be used to describe a person, their actions, or their words. It’s especially applied to words like comment, tone, and attitude. Being condescending often involves not only what is said, but also how it’s said. A condescending tone is often one that sounds like it’s directed at a child. Condescending is most commonly used as an adjective, but it’s also the continuous tense (-ing form) of the verb condescend, which most commonly means to act in this way. The act of doing so is called condescension. Example: You don’t have to be so condescending by explaining it to me with small words—I understand the topic just fine.
Other Word Forms
- condescendingly adverb
- noncondescending adjective
- noncondescendingly adverb
- noncondescendingness noun
- uncondescending adjective
- uncondescendingly adverb
Etymology
Origin of condescending
First recorded in 1630–40; condescend + -ing 2
Compare meaning
How does condescending compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:
Explanation
If you are being condescending, you are looking down on someone. A 10-year-old who says to his sibling, "What do you know? You're only a 6-year-old!" is being condescending. The Latin prefix con- means "with," and the Latin word for descend means "down," so the word condescending probably developed to describe someone who looked down on others. Condescending behavior is, not surprisingly, itself looked down upon. It's usually intended to make people feel bad about not knowing or having something, and it very often works.
Vocabulary lists containing condescending
100 Top "SAT" Words
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ACT Reading Test: Words to Capture Tone, List 1
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Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"It's a complete reversal of the situation: for a long time, Europeans were condescending toward Chinese manufacturers, seen as mere imitators."
From Barron's • Apr. 22, 2026
Just a few years ago, the term "kkondae" was another buzzword among young South Korean to describe an annoying breed of rigid, condescending elders.
From BBC • Jan. 17, 2026
First and foremost among these is Jack O’Brien’s precise and invigorating direction, which treats the characters as our country cousins, never condescending to them, even at their laughable worst.
From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 22, 2025
Part of the problem may be Gorsuch’s haughty and condescending attitude toward those who disagree with him.
From Slate • Jun. 23, 2025
She’d mastered that delicate condescending eyebrow everyone else had, and she deliberately mispronounced the names of stores where she bought her clothes, like the French Tar-Jay, and the German Vahl-Mahrt.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.