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Definition
treat in a manner that demonstrates a sense of superiority, but is supposed to seem kindor:
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
- He looked at me as if I was patronizing him.Ernest J. Gaines -- A Lesson Before Dying
- 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
patronize = be a customer of
patronizing = treating in a manner that demonstrates a sense of superiority, but is supposed to seem kind
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