condescension

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin condēscēnsiō,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} a noun of action from condēscēnsus, the past participle of condēscendō (“to let oneself down, stoop”),^[4][3][6][5] the source of condescend.^[3][2] The Shorter Oxford calls the Latin noun originally ecclesiastical, and takes the English word through French, where it is now obsolete and has been replaced by French condescendance;^[8] the OED notes it in 16th-century French.^[2] The Latin verb, found in Cassiodorus, is formed from com- (“with, together”) and dēscendō (“to descend”),^[2][3] which is from dē- (“down”) and scandō (“to climb”), from Proto-Indo-European *skand- (“to jump”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The action of stooping to things unworthy, a sense now obsolete: 1642, in Jeremy Taylor's Of Sacred Order Episcopacy.^[2] Etymonline dates the word to the 1640s, in the sense of a voluntary inclining to equality with inferiors,^[3] and Merriam-Webster Unabridged dates "an act of condescending" to 1647.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word came into English in religious writing of the 1640s with several senses that have since died out: stooping to unworthy things (1642–1797), consent or concession (1648–1720), and gracious deference to another (from 1650).^[2][8] The central sense, a superior's voluntary setting aside of his rank in dealing with inferiors, is recorded from 1654 for single acts and 1676 for the quality.^[2] It was at first a virtue: Johnson (1755) defined it as "voluntary humiliation; descent from superiority; voluntary submission to equality with inferiours", quoting Tillotson, for whom religion commanded "condescension to others".^[9] Later dictionaries record a shift towards the patronizing: the Shorter Oxford describes the modern sense as a consciously gracious or patronizing act or manner,^[8] Merriam-Webster Unabridged adds disdain veiled by obvious indulgence,^[5] and Collins gives only the patronizing sense.^[10]

Timeline

• 1642 – the action of stooping to things unworthy (obsolete by 1797).^[2]
• 1648 – consent, concession (obsolete by 1720).^[2]
• 1650 – gracious or submissive deference to another; complaisance.^[2]
• 1654 – an act of condescension.^[2]
• 1676 – voluntary setting aside of the privileges of a superior; affability to inferiors.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A patronizing attitude or manner; disdain thinly hidden by a show of indulgence or patience: He explained the rules with weary condescension.^[10][5][8]
2. An act or instance of condescending.^[5][2]
3. Voluntary descent from one's rank or dignity in dealing with those below one; affability towards inferiors.^[5][2][9]
4. (obsolete, 1648–1720) concession, consent.^[2][5][8]
5. (obsolete, 1642–1797) The action of stooping to something unworthy.^[2][8]

Word family

• condescensively

Related words

• condescend
• condescending
• descend
• descension

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
8. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins