The Collaborative International Dictionary
Condescend \Con`de*scend"\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Condescended; p. pr. & vb. n. Condescending.] [F. condescendre, LL. condescendere, fr. L. con- + descendere. See Descend.]
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To stoop or descend; to let one's self down; to submit; to waive the privilege of rank or dignity; to accommodate one's self to an inferior. ``Condescend to men of low estate.''
--Rom. xii. 16.Can they think me so broken, so debased With corporal servitude, that my mind ever Will condescend to such absurd commands?
--Milton.Spain's mighty monarch, In gracious clemency, does condescend, On these conditions, to become your friend.
--Dryden.Note: Often used ironically, implying an assumption of superiority.
Those who thought they were honoring me by condescending to address a few words to me.
--F. W. Robinson. -
To consent. [Obs.]
All parties willingly condescended heruento.
--R. Carew.Syn: To yield; stoop; descend; deign; vouchsafe.
Wiktionary
vb. (en-past of: condescend)
Usage examples of "condescended".
The Romans condescended to restore the names of those assemblies, when they could no longer be dangerous.
The ambassador condescended to justify, or excuse, the conduct of his master.
Theodosius condescended to praise the senate of Constantinople, who had generously interceded for their distressed brethren: he rewarded the eloquence of Hilarius with the government of Palestine.
As soon as they had resolved his death, they condescended to flatter his pride.
Perhaps the philosopher who addresses the emperor of the East in the language of reason and virtue, which he might have used to a Spartan king, had not condescended to form a practicable scheme, consistent with the temper, and circumstances, of a degenerate age.
He then condescended to fix the ransom, which he would accept as the price of his retreat from the walls of Rome: all the gold and silver in the city, whether it were the property of the state, or of individuals.
The authority of Jornandes, who praises the beauty of Placidia, may perhaps be counterbalanced by the silence, the expressive silence, of her flatterers: yet the splendor of her birth, the bloom of youth, the elegance of manners, and the dexterous insinuation which she condescended to employ, made a deep impression on the mind of Adolphus.
The Barbarian condescended, by producing an accurate list, to expose the bold falsehood of Vigilius, who had affirmed that no more than seventeen deserters could be found.
He condescended to meet these ambassadors on the banks of the River Drenco.
He condescended to pardon the emperor, the eunuch, and the interpreter.
The favorite servants, who obtained such irregular powers, were insolent in their behavior, and arbitrary in their demands: they affected to despise the subordinate tribunals, and they were discontented, if their fees and profits did not twice exceed the sum which they condescended to pay into the treasury.
But the Romans were disposed to revere, in the person of their master, that antique title which the emperors condescended to assume: the Barbarian himself seemed to contract a sacred obligation to respect the majesty of the republic.
Against such unworthy adversaries, Cicero condescended to employ the arms of reason and eloquence.
The philosophic Seneca had condescended to compose a similar epistle to the senate, in the name of the son and assassin of Agrippina.
That prince condescended, indeed, to acknowledge the victorious arms of Odenathus, who deserved the honorable distinction, by the respectful conduct which he always maintained towards the son of Valerian.