• (RP) IPA: /ˌkɒndɪˈsɛnd/
• (America) IPA: /ˌkɑːndɪˈsɛnd/

condescend (condescends, present participle condescending; past and past participle condescended)

1. (intransitive) To come down from one's superior position; to deign (to do something).
   • 1665, John Dryden, The Indian Emperour, act 1, scene 2:

     Spain's mighty monarch […] / In gracious clemency, does condescend / On these conditions, to become your friend.

2. (intransitive) To treat (someone) as though inferior; to be patronizing (toward someone); to talk down (to someone).
   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 14:

     I admire that admiration which the genteel world sometimes extends to the commonalty. There is no more agreeable object in life than to see Mayfair folks condescending.

   • 1907, Robert William Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 24962326 ↗:

     At her invitation he outlined for her the succeeding chapters with terse military accuracy ; and what she liked best and best understood was avoidance of that false modesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.

3. (transitive, rare, possibly, nonstandard) To treat (someone) as though inferior; to be patronizing toward (someone); to talk down to (someone).

   • ANDIE. I wasn't condescending you; I was just asking.

     THOMAS. No. You said “angry ***** man.” Like my anger only exists in a stereotype. That's condescending.

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To consent, agree.
   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes, lines 1134-36:

     Can they think me so broken, so debased / With corporal servitude, that my mind ever / Will condescend to such absurd commands?

5. (intransitive, obsolete) To come down.

• (come down from superior position) acquiesce, deign, stoop, vouchsafe
• (talk down, treat as inferior) patronize, belittle, put on airs
• (consent) yield
• (come down) descend

• condescendence
• condescend upon
• condescension
• descend

• Italian: accondiscendere
• Russian: снизойти́

• German: bevormunden, herablassend behandeln
• Italian: concedere

• Russian: уступи́ть
• Spanish: condescender