patronise

CEFRB2

/ˈpeɪtrəˌnaɪz/

verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
verb
To treat someone as less intelligent or important than you.
02
verb
Extra detail
Non-Oxford British English standard spelling of patronize.

Examples

Please do not patronise me when I ask questions.
She didn't like to patronise small shops.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 2
Parts of speech: 1
Citations: 5

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In context

He patronised the local art gallery.
This line is poorly patronised and the service has been proposed for withdrawal between Shrewsbury and Bewdley and reduction beyond.
Of course, [Jack] Nicholson patronises him [co-star Morgan Freeman], much as a hare might a tortoise, except that hares can't arch an eyebrow and smirk.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

She would constantly blank her younger brother by explaining simple things slowly.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

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Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

"A chearful glaſs, then," ſaid Sir Sedley, "you think horridly intolerable?" […] "Well, the glaſs is not what I patroniſe," ſaid Sir Theophilus; "it hips me ſo conſumedly the next day; no, I can't patroniſe the glaſs." / "Not patroniſe wine?" cried Lord Newford; "O hang it! O curſe it! that's too bad, Offy![…]"
1796, [Frances Burney], “Traits of Character”, in Camilla: Or, A Picture of Youth. … In Five Volumes, volume III, London: Printed for T[homas] Payne, […]; and T[homas] Cadell Jun. and W. Davies (successors to Mr. [Thomas] Cadell) […], →OCLC, pages 368–369
Mr John Puffingham was a patron—a patron to the diversified layers and strata of men and things pertaining to sublunary matters. He patronised his hatter, who, once a year, smoothed a cheap-and-shabby for his bald and shining brow. He patronised his tailor in the neighbourhood of the Minories. He patronised his washerwoman, his dustman—a pawnbroker he once patronised when an unexpected call was made upon his exhausted exchequer.
1844, John Mills, chapter XI, in The English Fireside. A Tale of the Past. … In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, page 181
"Yes, she was inclined to patronise you, I thought." / "I don't think she meant to patronise me in particular, it's the sort of manner that comes to women when they find themselves married, especially if they have had aspirations after that state for some time.[…]"
1851, [Georgiana A. Dalrymple], chapter XVI, in The Livingstones. A Story of Real Life. In Three Volumes, volume II, London: Colburn and Co., publishers […], →OCLC, page 273
In the eveng^([sic]) a party of Artists at Millers where I met Davis who brought in a little sketch from nature, very beautiful. Miller asked me as a favour to buy it of him, which I could not refuse him although it puts me in the aucward^([sic]) position of patronising a man whom I think far too well of to attempt the like with – however it is done.
1856 September 27, Ford Madox Brown, edited by Virginia Surtees, The Diary of Ford Madox Brown (Studies in British Art), New Haven, Conn.; London: Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, published 1981, →ISBN, page 190
In those days, as now, the Royal Naval Colleges as well as Sandhurst were well patronised by the squirearchy and the youths of the blue-blood who found in the training there a congenial calling, when they were not satisfied with military training as a hobby. […] The attraction of military and naval life was enhanced by the fact that the Royal family patronised it.
1920, “From Birth to Parliament”, in Josiah C. Wedgwood: The Man and His Work, Triplicane, Madras, India: S. Ganesan & Co., →OCLC, page 4

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Origin

verb

From patron + -ise.

Deep Dive

More examples

Quick test

She would constantly blank— her younger brother by explaining simple things slowly.

Nearby

Origin

verb

She would constantly blank her younger brother by explaining simple things slowly.