0 If you condescend to do something, you agree to do something that you do not consider to be good enough for your social position: --
1 to behave in a way which shows that you consider yourself to be better or more intelligent than other people: --
Such a development would also further a wider appreciation for local forms of knowledge, an intellectual heritage hitherto largely relegated to the condescending guardianship of nationalistic folklore studies.
Speech does not merely reveal the emotions of the speaker, however, but can convey complex interpersonal meanings such as being friendly, rude, comforting or condescending.
In such cases the object of condescension is thought to be unworthy; consequently, to condescend is to be compromised.
As they condescended (or abdicated their distinction), visitors were required to act like the people they were trying to help.
Unfortunately, the magnificence of these and other chapters is partially marred by the snide and condescending tone that colours a handful of other essays.
That the newcomers needed to be assisted went hand in hand with the condescending belief that they had to be converted as well.
A prime target, not surprisingly, is the ubiquitous and mostly condescending celebration of women for their "civilizing" influence on men.
Condescension came primarily to signify self-promotion at another's cost; to condescend was to assert one's own superiority in a way that degraded others.
