Sample sentences for PATRONIZE

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Definition

treat in a manner that demonstrates a sense of superiority, but is supposed to seem kind

or:

the actions of a patron (to support someone or something; or to be a customer)

More rarely, patronize can mean to "give business to" as in "I don't patronize that restaurant because the owner is rude."

I'm annoyed by her patronizing tone — as though she knows more about my situation than I do.

patronizing = treating in a manner that demonstrates a sense of superiority, but is supposed to seem kind

She also spoke of finding another store to patronize, one where the proprietors were more concerned about the welfare of the community.
Mildred D. Taylor -- Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry

patronize = be a customer of

He looked at me as if I was patronizing him.
Ernest J. Gaines -- A Lesson Before Dying

patronizing = treating in a manner that demonstrates a sense of superiority, but is supposed to seem kind

Then men will walk across the road when they meet you—or, worse still, hold you out a couple of fingers and patronize you in a pitying way—then you will know, as soon as your back is turned, that your friend begins with a "Poor devil, what imprudences he has committed, what chances that chap has thrown away."
William Makepeace Thackeray -- Vanity Fair
My dears, you imagined, I believe, that you were about to patronize this young gentleman, like some poor protege picked up somewhere, and taken under your magnificent protection.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky -- The Idiot
She ascribed this hostility to the awkward position in which Anna, who had once patronized her, must feel with her now, and she felt sorry for her.
Leo Tolstoy -- Anna Karenina
Max did not intend to sound so patronizing.
Henry H. Neff -- The Fiend And The Forge
There's nothing patronizing in his voice, and yet I can't help thinking he reminds me of a schoolteacher about to ease children into a lesson.
Suzanne Collins -- Catching Fire
His expression was kind, tolerant, amused, patronizing.
Alfred Bester -- The Demolished Man
Don't patronize me, Erik.
P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast -- Marked
Call thought the old man rather patronizing—he knew enough to water a horse before setting off into a desert.
Larry McMurtry -- Lonesome Dove
I'm too bright for most men, and yet I have to descend to their level and let them patronize my intellect in order to get their attention.
F. Scott Fitzgerald -- This Side of Paradise
I gave her a patronizing smile.
James Patterson -- School's Out - Forever
He patronized the American Festival Cafe and the Taj Mahal in Manhattan, and Tony Roma's in two boroughs.
Rick Bragg -- All Over but the Shoutin'
"Has your honor been back long?" he added patronizingly, as though encouraging a nervous visitor.
Fyodor Dostoyevsky -- The Brothers Karamazov
His posture toward life was very much that of the barker of a carnival sideshow: loquacious, patronizing, and cynical.
Thomas Wolfe -- Look Homeward, Angel
There is even an Ethical Society; but it is not much patronized, as my men are all strongly religious.
George Bernard Shaw -- Major Barbara
He assumed a patronizing air toward Pete.
Stephen Crane -- Maggie: A Girl of the Streets
"Oh, it's big enough," he said patronizingly, "but somehow I was expecting something... you know."
Cassandra Clare -- City of Bones
Later, he tried a ten-cent barber shop, and, finding that the shave was satisfactory, patronized regularly.
Theodore Dreiser -- Sister Carrie

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