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Condescend vs Kind - What's the difference?

condescend | kind |

As a verb condescend

is (lb) to come down from one's superior position; to deign (to do something).

As a noun kind is

child (young person).

condescend

English

Verb

(en verb)
  • (lb) To come down from one's superior position; to deign (to do something).
  • *1665 , (John Dryden), (The Indian Emperour) , act 1, sc.2:
  • *:Spain's mighty monarch/ In gracious clemency, does condescend / On these conditions, to become your friend.
  • *1847 , (Anne Bronte), Agnes Grey , Ch.5:
  • *:Fanny and little Harriet he seldom condescended to notice; but Mary Ann was something of a favourite.
  • (lb) To treat (someone) as though inferior; to be patronizing (toward someone); to talk down (to someone).
  • *1861 , (Charles Dickens), (Great Expectations) , Ch.29:
  • *:"You must know," said Estella, condescending to me as a brilliant and beautiful woman might, "that I have no heart."
  • *1880 , , Clever Woman of the Family , Ch.7:
  • *:Ermine never let any one be condescending to her, and conducted the conversation with her usual graceful good breeding.
  • *
  • *: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.
  • 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?
  • *1868 , (Horatio Alger), Struggling Upward , Ch.3:
  • *:"This is the pay I get for condescending to let you go with me."
  • To come down.
  • Usage notes

    * This is a catenative verb that takes the to infinitive . See * In sense “to talk down”, the derived participial adjective condescending (and corresponding adverb condescendingly) are more common than the verb itself.

    Synonyms

    * (come down from superior position) acquiesce, deign, stoop, vouchsafe * patronize, put on airs * (consent) yield * (come down) descend

    kind

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) (m), (m), (m), (m), from (etyl) . See also kin.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A type, race or category; a group of entities that have common characteristics such that they may be grouped together.
  • :
  • :
  • *(William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • *:How diversely Love doth his pageants play, / And shows his power in variable kinds !
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like
      Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”}}
  • A makeshift or otherwise atypical specimen.
  • :
  • *1884 , (Mark Twain), (The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn), Chapter VIII
  • *:I got my traps out of the canoe and made me a nice camp in the thick woods. I made a kind of a tent out of my blankets to put my things under so the rain couldn't get at them.
  • (label) One's inherent nature; character, natural disposition.
  • *:
  • *:And whan he cam ageyne he sayd / O my whyte herte / me repenteth that thow art dede // and thy deth shalle be dere bought and I lyue / and anone he wente in to his chamber and armed hym / and came oute fyersly / & there mette he with syr gauayne / why haue ye slayne my houndes said syr gauayn / for they dyd but their kynde
  • (senseid)Goods or services used as payment, as e.g. in barter.
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:Some of you, on pure instinct of nature, / Are led by kind t'admire your fellow-creature.
  • Equivalent means used as response to an action.
  • :
  • Each of the two elements of the communion service, bread and wine.
  • Usage notes
    In sense “goods or services” or “equivalent means”, used almost exclusively with “in” in expression in kind.
    Synonyms
    * genre * sort * type * derivative (1) and/or (2) * generation * offspring * child * See also
    Derived terms
    * in kind * kind of * kinda

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) , from cynd.

    Adjective

    (er)
  • having a benevolent, courteous, friendly, generous, gentle, or disposition, marked by consideration for - and service to - others.
  • Affectionate.
  • a kind''' man; a '''kind heart
  • * Goldsmith
  • Yet was he kind , or if severe in aught, / The love he bore to learning was his fault.
  • * Waller
  • O cruel Death, to those you take more kind / Than to the wretched mortals left behind.
  • Favorable.
  • mild, gentle, forgiving
  • The years have been kind to Richard Gere; he ages well.
  • Gentle; tractable; easily governed.
  • a horse kind in harness
  • (obsolete) Characteristic of the species; belonging to one's nature; natural; native.
  • * Holland
  • It becometh sweeter than it should be, and loseth the kind taste.
    (Chaucer)
    Synonyms
    * See also
    Derived terms
    * kindhearted * kindliness * kindly * kindness

    Statistics

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    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----