Word.ws English Dictionary

condone

Syllables: con·done/kənˈdəʊn/US/kənˈdoʊn/

condone verb: to forgive, excuse or overlook (something that is considered morally wrong, offensive, or generally disliked).

Verb

condone (third-person singular simple present condones, present participle condoning, simple past and past participle condoned)

  1. (transitive) To forgive, excuse or overlook (something that is considered morally wrong, offensive, or generally disliked).
    • ‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police[…]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 18, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC
  2. (transitive) To allow, accept or permit (something that is considered morally wrong, offensive, or generally disliked).
    • Rule-utilitarianism is unlikely to condone torturing a child, but it does imply that the torturing of a child is less evil if the torturer shares his pleasure with other sadists-perhaps by inviting an audience, or broadcasting it on the Internet.2001, Will Kymlicka, Contemporary Political Philosophy, Oxford University Press, page 29
  3. (transitive) To forgive (marital infidelity or other marital offense).

condone meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam

condone in Tamil

மன்னி

condone in Urdu

درگزر کرنا, معاف کرنا

condone in Bengali

উপেক্ষা করা, ক্ষমা করা, কোনো অন্যায়কে মেনে নেওয়া

condone in Malayalam

മാപ്പു കൊടുക്കുക, കുറ്റവിമുക്തമാക്കിവിടുക, അപരാധം ക്ഷമിക്കുക
More languagesFewer languages
condone in Kannada
ಗಮನಿಸದಿರು

Examples of condone in a sentence

  • We should not condone the assignment of asylum seekers to that of people smugglers.
  • It is his persuasion that abortion should never be condoned.
  • The occupational culture of the British police condones the use of “verbals” or “working the oracle.”

All 18 example sentences with condone

Synonyms of condone

Forms of condone

third-person singular presentcondones
present participlecondoning
past participlecondoned
pastcondoned

Past tense of condone: condoned

Origin of condone

Learned borrowing from Latin condōnāre (“to forgive”).

Words formed from condone

Words that rhyme with condone

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about condone

What does condone mean?
Condone means to forgive, excuse or overlook (something that is considered morally wrong, offensive, or generally disliked).
What is condone in Tamil?
Condone in Tamil is மன்னி. See Condone meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is condone?
Condone is a verb.
How do you pronounce condone?
Condone is pronounced /kənˈdoʊn/ (US).
What is the past tense of condone?
The past tense of condone is condoned.

Words near condone in the dictionary

  1. condonance
  2. condonances
  3. condonation
  4. condonations
  5. condonative
  6. condone
  7. condoned
  8. condonement
  9. condonements
  10. condoner
  11. condoners

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: condone (page history and authors); condone (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); condone (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); condone (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); condone (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); condone (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-condone.wav.

Cite this entry: “condone.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/condone. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.