What's the difference between condescending and polemical?

Condescending


Definition:

  • (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Condescend

Example Sentences:

  • (1) It somewhat condescendingly divides the population into 15 groups – among them, Terraced Melting Pot (“Lower-income workers, mostly young, living in tightly packed inner-urban terraces”), and Suburban Mind-sets (“Maturing families on mid-range incomes living a moderate lifestyle in suburban semis”).
  • (2) For instance the 'Sarah's Law' campaign there were quite a lot of people who were quite condescending ... and actually the public were quite worried about this.
  • (3) At stake: rice cakes, a gift basket, and a somewhat condescending hockey puck.
  • (4) The somewhat condescending implication is: "You'll all get there in the end."
  • (5) This weekend the very accomplished Rona Fairhead, former FT chief executive and now the government’s choice to be the new chair of the BBC Trust, was described namelessly in a Telegraph headline as “mother of three.” It was decidedly reminiscent of that Sunday Times front page headline in April, “Grandmother, 71, tackles slave traffickers for the Pope” , sparking condescending mental images of a sweet little ol’ granny pummelling evil-doers with her cane.
  • (6) It is snobbish and condescending to mock any creative or practical manual work.
  • (7) Taken out of context, and interspersed with condescending comments to backbench MPs, Cameron's quote is entirely misleading."
  • (8) But the condescending tone of the letter, which suggested that Iranians do not understand the American political process, provoked harsh words from both the Obama administration and even Iran’s foreign minister.
  • (9) You could say that acceptance of homosexuality became one of the key measures of modernity long before societies like ours in Britain condescended to update their anti-gay structures.
  • (10) That, I wanted to write about - in a sense it sounds condescending, and I don't mean it quite this way - I wanted to write about the way popular culture is an inheritor of something else.
  • (11) Since having come back to London, I've spoken to a few of these rare exotic birds – the Femaleus footballus writerus – and all have stories of casual sexism: being mistaken for tea ladies in the press centre; being condescended to by managers in press conferences; being demoted by their bosses when they have children, which is most definitely not a problem in the more female-dominated fashion business.
  • (12) And it would be nothing short of condescending for screenwriter Aaron Sorkin and director David Fincher to have concocted some fictional spunky-girl nerd character or a wise female comp sci professor in an attempt to make their film more female-friendly.
  • (13) Gravity was a huge, old-fashioned spectacle of a film, a terrific experience, superb in its simplicity and Barnumesque flair for movie showmanship, but it has been dismissed in some quarters (rather condescendingly) because of the alleged hokiness of its dialogue and characterisation.
  • (14) Tedros said the ICC was "condescending" towards the continent.
  • (15) When they resisted, he rounded on them with a mix of expletives, threats and condescending insults, including the poisonous utterance "pleb".
  • (16) The people in the villages of Los Negros seem to be puzzled, confused and, in some cases, fearful of the developments at Lombrum … It is a shame that this has happened because it could easily have been avoided.” The report blames in part the culture gap between local people and the predominantly military, police and security types working at the centre, whose behaviour was noticeably condescending and whose physical appearance villagers found intimidating.
  • (17) We were totally opposed, totally patronised, totally condescended and actually vilified, really.” She described how she was branded “Harriet Harperson” and “hapless Harriet” while arguing for basic changes that are now considered the norm, such as men getting time off when their babies are born.
  • (18) What's more is that Sorkin's already been called out this year for his condescending treatment of Globe and Mail reporter Sarah Prickett , who he famously referred to as "internet girl" at a press conference.
  • (19) Sadly, you can't read those ancient lines now without hearing them uttered in that patiently condescending voice.
  • (20) I just thought it was a jaw-droppingly condescending way of treating someone who is just proudly hanging some flags outside their home.

Polemical


Definition:

  • (a.) Polemic; controversial; disputatious.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) My idea in Orientalism was to use humanistic critique to open up the fields of struggle, to introduce a longer sequence of thought and analysis to replace the short bursts of polemical, thought-stopping fury that so imprison us.
  • (2) Byatt said that, while she had not wished to present an allegory or a polemic, the story was impelled by a profound sense of gloom about the environment and indeed about all human endeavours.
  • (3) Anyone who allows himself to stoop to such polemics shows that they are running out of proper arguments”, said Jürgen Hardt, the foreign affairs spokesman for Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats.
  • (4) i lent brett ratner my 2nd (of 2) parms dorz cos he wantd 2 impress women and I was worrid he mite get bbq sauce on it agen lol You've said your films are intended as "polemical statements against the American 'barrel down' cinema and its dis-empowerment of the spectator."
  • (5) As one of the disenchanted Labour voters described by MacAskill, I have had many polemics put my way: the most persuasive have been George Galloway's "Just Say Naw" and a speech on the implications of Scottish independence for business by Rupert Soames, CEO of the Scottish firm Aggreko.
  • (6) Moore had contributed an essay on women's anger to an anthology of polemical writing.
  • (7) As well as appearing on TV, she writes a weekly column in the Sunday Fairfax papers, a column on The Drum, and books ranging from a Quarterly Essay on Malcolm Turnbull to the popular culture polemic The Wife Drought.
  • (8) Hitting back at the harsh criticism he has received in recent days, including depictions of him in the Greek press as an IS terrorist who had beheaded Greece, he said: “I have such a thick skin that it can’t derail me, but what does torment me is distorting polemic that completely misses the point.” Soon afterwards Sahra Wagenknecht of the far-left Linke, accused him of being a “cutback Taliban”.
  • (9) It is suggested that if change in the biomedical system is a goal of a critical clinical anthropology, the impact will be greater where objective and broad causal connections can be demonstrated with minimal use of rote or polemic arguments.
  • (10) And the groundbreaking forays into popular culture - his examinations of the British seaside postcard and boys' comics - and the revered polemical essays appeared in periodicals such as Horizon and Polemic.
  • (11) But Florian Philippot, Le Pen’s closest adviser, dismissed the accusations as “a campaign polemic”, describing Jalkh as “serious, moderate … a patriot and an honest man”.
  • (12) Based on considerable personal experience and a rigorous and critical analysis of case-reports, a highly polemic subject is discussed.
  • (13) I do not wish to engage in polemics regarding the relative worth of behavioral and psychodynamic theories of treatment, but this paper reflects my own misgivings about certain aspects of the token economy and is concerned more with the quality of the ward atmosphere it creates than with specific behavior changes.
  • (14) In one of the more conspiracy theorising polemics I have read in some while, he described this wealth-creating, free-trading, economic stimulus simply as "a monstrous assault on democracy" by institutions, "which have been captured by the corporations they are supposed to regulate".
  • (15) Since antiquity, puerperal mental disorders have always been the field of polemics concerning the different possible etiopathogenic hypothesis.
  • (16) Often the boundary between experience and polemic gets blurred.
  • (17) They range from the generally accepted to the frankly polemical and the merely heuristic.
  • (18) Walden aims at conversion, and Thoreau's polemical purpose gives it an energy and drive missing in the meanders of the sole other book he saw into publication during his short lifetime, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers (1849).
  • (19) The main polemic is over whether it is most useful to evaluate the total estsrogens or the individual fractions.
  • (20) It is clear that polemic is not sufficient and that consensus practices can only be based upon firm scientifically acquired data and detailed discussion of the options by those most intimately involved.