different between condescend vs disparage

English

Etymology

From Middle English condescenden, from Old French condescendre, from Late Latin cond?scendere (“to let one's self down, stoop, condescend”), from Latin con- (“together”) + d?scendere, present active infinitive of d?scend? (“I come down”); see descend.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?k?nd??s?nd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?k??nd??s?nd/

Verb

condescend (third-person singular simple present condescends, present participle condescending, simple 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.

   • 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 black 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.

Usage notes

• "Condescend" is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive. See Appendix:English catenative verbs
• In sense “to talk down”, the derived participial adjective condescending (and corresponding adverb condescendingly) are more common than the verb itself.
• In older usage, "condescend" could be used non-pejoratively (in a sense similar to that of treating someone as inferior) to describe the action of those who socialized in a friendly way with their social inferiors. Now that the concept of social inferiors has largely fallen out of currency, so has this non-pejorative sense. Thus, in w:Pride_and_Prejudice, a character could say of another, "I need not say you will be delighted with her. She is all affability and condescension.”

Synonyms

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

Related terms

• condescendence
• condescend upon
• condescension
• descend

Translations

Further reading

• condescend in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• condescend in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

English

Etymology

From Middle English disparage (noun), disparagen (verb), from Old French desparage (noun), desparagier (verb), from des- + parage (“equal rank, rank”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?s?pæ??d??/

Noun

disparage (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Inequality in marriage; marriage with an inferior.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.8:

     But, for his meane degree might not aspire / To match so high, her friends with counsell sage / Dissuaded her from such a disparage […]

Translations

Verb

disparage (third-person singular simple present disparages, present participle disparaging, simple past and past participle disparaged)

1. To match unequally; to degrade or dishonor. (Can we add an example for this sense?)
2. To dishonor by a comparison with what is inferior; to lower in rank or estimation by actions or words; to speak slightingly of; to depreciate; to undervalue.
   • August 30, 1706, Francis Atterbury, a sermon preach'd in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, at the funeral of Mr. Tho. Bennet

     those forbidding appearances which sometimes disparage the actions of men sincerely pious

   • 1671, John Milton, Samson Agonistes

     Thou durst not thus disparage glorious arms.

3. To ridicule, mock, discredit. (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Translations

See also

• vilipend
• belittle
• denigrate
• excoriate

Further reading

• disparage in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• disparage in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• disparage at OneLook Dictionary Search

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old French desparage; equivalent to dis- +? parage.

Alternative forms

• dysperage, disperage, desparage

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dis?pa?ra?d?(?)/, /dis?parad?(?)/, /d?s-/

Noun

disparage (uncountable) (rare)

1. Inequality in marriage; marriage with an inferior.
2. Ignominy, shame; the state of lacking respect.

Descendants

• English: disparage

References

• “dispar??e, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-04-21.

Etymology 2

From Old French desparagier.

Verb

disparage

1. Alternative form of disparagen.