Other forms: patronized, patronizing, patronizes
To patronize is to be a regular customer, or to talk down to somebody. Patronize the local shop, don't patronize me, a patronizing tone.
The two senses have drifted a long way apart and only the second is heard in ordinary speech. A patronizing tone treats the listener as less capable than they are, and the word for it is the same as the word for a patron who supports an artist.
1verbpatronizeTo be a regular customer, or to talk down to somebody.
“Local families have patronized the little bakery for generations.”
patronize is a using, or a condescending.
Also accepted in games: patronise
From patron, from Latin patronus, a protector, from pater, a father. British spelling is patronise.
Medieval Latin
patronizāre — to lead a galley as patron
Old French
patroniser
English, today
patronize
From patron + ize; or from Old French patroniser, from Medieval Latin patronizāre (“to lead a galley as patron”). patternize.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA