Condescending

How to spell condescending

13 letters · 4 syllables

How to pronounce condescending

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does condescending mean?

1. adjectiveBehaving as though one is superior to others, with a patronising air of mild contempt.

Condescending in a sentence

• His condescending tone during the meeting irritated the entire team.

• The consultant gave a condescending explanation, as if no one else understood the basics.

Where does condescending come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word reaches back to the Latin verb condescendere, formed from com- meaning 'together' and descendere meaning 'to climb down', which itself joins de- 'down' with scandere 'to climb'. Literally it pictured someone coming down to a lower level, and in late Latin and medieval church writing it took on the kindly sense of a superior graciously lowering himself to meet others. English borrowed it through Old French in the 1300s, where 'condescend' first meant to defer or yield politely. Over the centuries the polite shade soured: by the 1700s the participle 'condescending' had picked up its modern flavour of looking down on people while pretending to be gracious. The spelling trap lives in the middle, where the original 'climbing down' root scandere leaves a silent c in 'scend', a syllable many adults reduce to a plain 's' sound when they write.

How the word is built

• con- (with, together)
• de- (down)
• scend (climb, from Latin scandere)
• -ing (adjective/participle suffix)