Definition

Patronizing is the act of speaking or behaving in a way that appears friendly but which shows that you think somebody is inferior or stupid.

Pronunciation

US English

UK English


See Synonyms, Antonyms and Usage

Excerpts from News Articles

1

A team of researchers recently tried to quantify just how much sexism women face when presenting papers and research data to their peers. They found that women are not only asked more questions during their presentations than men but that these queries were more likely to be patronizing or hostile – something that I and many of my female peers have firsthand experience with.


2

The controversy over Guston’s white-hooded protagonists prompted a rethink and postponement of the exhibition, which was originally scheduled to open at the National Gallery in 2020. The three museums that have so far hosted versions of “Philip Guston Now” responded with warning labels such as the ones at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, which The Post’s Sebastian Smee deemed “ patronizing .” The National Gallery’s approach is subtler. But the museum did carefully sequester in an easily bypassed gallery the controversial paintings first shown at New York’s Marlborough Gallery in 1970.

Logo 2023-04-18 The Washington Post

3

For the same reason, some patrons feel uneasy when Mr Lim tries to assist them. Meanwhile, others appreciate his service and recommendations – the whole nine yards. Selecting a pair of spectacle frames with no expertise can be dicey, he said. For example, semi-rimless glasses may not suit highly myopic customers. Because lens thickness increases with prescription, the lens may end up looking disproportionate to the frame.

Logo 2023-04-03 Channel NewsAsia

4

There are 18 LIV Golf competitors at this year's Masters, including 2020 champion Dustin Johnson, and while all did not schedule practice rounds on Monday those who did were also greeted warmly by the patrons .

Logo 2023-04-04 Channel NewsAsia

5

In a 2012 interview, Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, described hawker centres as offering “good quality meals at almost Third World prices”, a kind of “general subsidy that is available to all those who patronise hawker centres - rich and poor alike”.

Logo 2023-04-10 Channel NewsAsia

6

Muhyiddin’s Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (Bersatu) and its chief ally, the right-wing Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), scored huge electoral gains in the November general election when the coalition secured the majority votes from the Malays, who turned their backs on the graft-ridden United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). UMNO had long been the traditional patron of the community that makes up more than 60 per cent of the country’s 32 million population.

Logo 2023-04-10 Channel NewsAsia

7

"The Baptism of Christ" is one of Juan de Pareja's large-scale religious works, but the patron is unknown. Credit: Museo Nacional del Prado/Metropolitan Museum of Art

Logo 2023-04-09 CNN News

8

Peters stepped in between an officer and a patron who allegedly blocked investigators from accessing the table, according to the affidavit. When officers tried to move her to the side, she “actively” resisted, the affidavit said.

Logo 2023-04-10 CNN News

9

"Most of the time, people were OK — 99% of them would say yes to a facade picture," he said, adding they typically wouldn't mind his presence, as long as he didn't take photos of patrons or dancers.

Logo 2023-04-18 CNN News

10

San Vicente Ferrer, the patron saint of Juchitán, was carrying three bags of seeds meant to be distributed around the world. The first contained male seeds, the second contained female seeds and a third bag contained a mixture of the two. But as San Vicente was passing through Juchitán, the third bag ruptured – and from it sprang the town’s famed community of muxes.

Logo 2023-04-07 CNN News

11

San Vicente Ferrer, the patron saint of Juchitán, was carrying three bags of seeds meant to be distributed around the world. The first contained male seeds, the second contained female seeds and a third bag contained a mixture of the two. But as San Vicente was passing through Juchitán, the third bag ruptured – and from it sprang the town’s famed community of muxes.

Logo 2023-04-07 CNN News

12

Aged 64, and the son of a sea captain, Reva studied sculpture in the late 1980s and spent five happy years at the higher school of art and design, in what was then Leningrad. An outstanding student, he won a scholarship to Rome, then returned to Odesa. Times were hard in the newly independent Ukraine. One of his first patrons was a local mafia boss, who was later shot dead.

Logo 2023-04-15 The Guardian

13

“It’s like 1967,” said a visitor to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as artists, writers, friends and art patrons assembled to celebrate British painter Cecily Brown, who came to Manhattan in the early 1990s and was this month gifted a “career survey” at the civilisation-spanning institution. The last time this accolade was offered to a living British artist was Lucian Freud in the mid-90s.

Logo 2023-04-16 The Guardian

14

At a press conference after last year’s deaths, the Ritz’s owner, Tom Greco, who is straight, said he would implement “heightened bag checks” and advised patrons to “be aware of who’s with you and who’s coming and going”. But last week, a bouncer outside the Ritz told the Guardian he had “never heard of” the deadly drugging attacks in the area, and he said that the Ritz’s security manager wasn’t on the premises. Greco didn’t respond to messages requesting comment.

Logo 2023-04-17 The Guardian

15

The coronation Big Lunch aims to brings neighbours and communities together to celebrate. Camilla has been patron of the initiative since 2013 and has attended Big Lunches all across the UK and the world, including in Ghana and Barbados.

Logo 2023-04-17 The Guardian

16

“I was a good girl with a bad girl lurking inside,” Blume tells the film-makers. Born to a middle-class Jewish family, she toed a conventional line, wearing sweater sets and attending Sweet Sixteen parties and marrying her college sweetheart. It was while raising her own family in New Jersey that she began to write, a habit that did not earn the admiration of her neighbors or even her husband. He took a patronizing view of her efforts and appreciated that it was less expensive than a shopping habit.

Logo 2023-04-18 The Guardian

17

THE masters , which starts on April 6th, is an event steeped in tradition. Of the four annual major golf tournaments, it is the only one to be held at the same venue—Augusta, Georgia—every year. Attending fans are referred to as “ patrons ”. It is also an exclusive gathering for players. Fewer than 100 compete for the fabled green jacket, compared with the conventional 156 of other tournaments. This year, however, it is not only the players competing.

Logo 2023-04-06 The Economist

18

The plan did not work. In April 2019, both the army and RSF turned against al-Bashir following months of pro-democracy protests. The RSF continued to operate independently from the army, while the two forces competed for state assets, foreign patrons , legitimacy and recruits.

Logo 2023-04-15 Al Jazeera

19

Beaten, Taylor Greene retreated into a large SUV and scurried away as bullies are apt to do when they are defied face-to-face. Her gaggle of supporters broke out into a limp chant of “USA, USA” that, like their piqued patron , faded into irrelevance.

Logo 2023-04-18 Al Jazeera

20

Now, an unlikely pair is teaming up not to save existing reefs but to create new more resilient reefs: Marine scientist Dr. Deborah Brosnan of the Ocean Shot Project, and John Paul DeJoria, co-founder of John Paul Mitchell hair care systems and Patron Spirits. Brosnan has been studying coral reefs for more than 25 years, with a specific focus on the Caribbean.

Logo 2023-04-10 CNBC

21

In February, she begged friends to come to Talea's first trivia night, fearing only a few players would show up. Instead, more than 70 patrons joined in. When people go out, "they want something that's enriching and engaging and is more than just taking shots or slamming beers," Fitzgerald said.

Logo 2023-04-07 CNBC

22

New York City police previously confirmed that multiple groups of criminals are committing such crimes against men visiting the city’s gay bars. Police also said similar crimes were being committed against patrons of bars without any LGBTQ affiliation.

Logo 2023-04-18 MSNBC News

23

The current leader of 'A Just Russia' Mironov is "likely attempting to revive his political influence and use Prigozhin as a patron for his political ambitions", said the ISW.

Logo 2023-04-11 EURO News

24

With Jerry Seinfeld as its patron saint, Normcore came to celebrate all things bland – white sneakers, stonewashed jeans, backpacks, baseball caps. And it sparked a media frenzy: thousands of news stories were published about what Normcore was, how to dress Normcore and debates on whether or not it was a joke.

Logo 2023-04-16 EURO News

25

A grandstand packed with patrons , buzzed in the box seats on cold beer and peanuts, and none of it had cost them more than a few bucks. A baseball band-box carved into a Blue Ridge mountainside, laced with the unmistakable scent of western North Carolina honeysuckle blooms.

Logo 2023-04-12 Literary Hub

26

Summer break always cleared the place out. It was a ghost town. We’d parked on Dubuque. We walked into the Sports Column where we were the only patrons . We drank beer and ate bar food—bodies cramped to shit from a tortuous drive that had started that morning in Utah—and watched the Cleveland Cavaliers complete the greatest NBA Finals comeback of all time after having been down in the series to the Golden State Warriors 3-1. LeBron fell to the hardwood. Kyrie picked him up and they shared an embrace.

Logo 2023-04-13 Literary Hub

27

“Can I still listen to David Bowie?” is a plaintive query that she says she hears a lot when she speaks on college campuses. She feels the students’ pain: “I was a weird teenager; David Bowie was the patron saint of weird kids.” But when he died, the news spread that he had allegedly slept with a 15-year-old groupie, taking her virginity.

Logo 2023-04-12 Literary Hub

28

The objects dotted around the room seem to point to the couple’s relationship, such as the dusting brush hanging from the bedstead, which referred to a woman’s domestic duties, and the carved figure on the bedstead that is probably St. Margaret, the patron saint of childbirth.


29

Edward de Vere, 17th earl of Oxford, (born April 12, 1550, Castle Hedingham, Essex, England—died June 24, 1604, Newington, Middlesex), English lyric poet and theatre patron , who became, in the 20th century, the strongest candidate proposed (next to William Shakespeare himself) for the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays. Evidence exists that Oxford was known during his lifetime to have written some plays, though there are no known examples extant.


30

The mood and style of this work is reminiscent of two early Italian masters, Piero di Cosimo and Dosso Dossi. Burne-Jones may have seen their work on his travels, but it is more likely he was influenced by the examples owned by one of his patrons , William Graham.


31

His excellent temper, courteous manners, and lack of vices impressed all those who met him, but he lacked the common touch, travelled about little, and never mixed with ordinary people. A patron of the arts (notably of painting and tapestry; he brought both Van Dyck and another famous Flemish painter, Peter Paul Rubens , to England), he was, like all the Stuarts , also a lover of horses and hunting. He was sincerely religious, and the character of the court became less coarse as soon as he became king.


32

Again, many of these stories could amount to no more than myth. Nonetheless, centuries after his death, the Irish continue to show their gratitude for their patron saint by wearing a spray of shamrocks on March 17. They start the day with mass, followed by a daylong feast, and prayer and reflection at night.


33

The EVG has encouraged its members to take part in the strike, saying it had "to increase pressure on employers, who think that they can ignore the demands of their workforce and conduct wage negotiations in a patronizing way."

Logo 2023-04-20 China Daily

34

That housewife escaping the flood and Isaiah with his finger in a book: How do we go from pointing out these inspiring details to revealing the sublimity of a masterpiece? Marshall reaches out in some familiar directions, for instance to other works of art and other media. She visits the Roman church of Santa Cecilia, patron saint of music, where she discovers that she is enveloped by the sound while feeling no need to explain anything, though it’s not quite clear how that might raise questions about her project of explaining Michelangelo. She reaches out toward poetry, citing the often-quoted work of William Carlos Williams in “The Red Wheelbarrow,” though it would seem that Michelangelo’s aesthetic is as far from those spare lines as it’s possible to be.

Logo 2023-04-03 The Washington Post

35

The Avalon also is releasing video vignettes, called “Avalon Memories,” in which longtime patrons speak about their love for the theater. And the Avalon’s annual fundraising gala was reimagined this year as a centennial celebration: The theater will host a dinner and show on May 6 featuring the 1924 Buster Keaton film “Sherlock Jr.,” with a new, live musical accompaniment composed by Catholic University professor Andrew Earle Simpson. (Admission to the film is {$}75; a ticket for the full gala is {$}325.)

Logo 2023-04-11 The Washington Post