How to use patronize in a sentence

13 example sentences · verb

Patronize means to act as a patron of; to defend, protect, or support. Example: “She shops at discount department stores, but looks as if she patronized high-end boutiques.”

Examples of patronize by meaning

verbTo act as a patron of; to defend, protect, or support.

Music and dance, in ancient times, were mainly patronized by religion, in the same way as art was patronized in the west by the church.1989, S. K. Thacker, “Indian Music and Its Social Bearing”, in D. Narain, editor, Research in Sociology: (Abstracts of M.A. and Ph.D....

verbTo be a customer of (an establishment), especially a regular customer.

Although patronizing the local stores, they will also make purchases in the city, and may well prefer a Guatemala City lawyer or medical specialist to those available locally.1973, Richard Newbold Adams, “The Organization of Power, 1944–1966”, in Crucifixion by Power: Essays on Guatemalan National Social...

More sentences with patronize

She shops at discount department stores, but looks as if she patronized high-end boutiques.From the entry high-end
Pop sociology such as Liz Hodgkinson's Bodyshock patronized, cisplained and titillated.2021, Zoë Playdon, The Hidden Case of Ewan Forbes: And the Unwritten History of the Trans Experience, page 234. From the entry cisplain
The Cistercian abbey of Poblet, in the district of Tarragona, was enthusiastically patronized by the king-counts.2011, Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms, Penguin, published 2012, page 184. From the entry king-count
As the restaurants themselves rise and fall, so do the fortunes of the powerful who patronize them.1998 August, Gregg Kilday, “To Live and Dine in LA”, in Spencer Beck, editor, Los Angeles Magazine, volume 43, number 8, Los Angeles…. From the entry dinee
Oddly, while abhoring Lamarch’s transformism for degrading the “godlike race,” Brewster openly patronized Grant.1992, Adrian Desmond, The Politics of Evolution. From the entry abhoring
It seems that many homophile Bostonians don't patronize Provincetown for various reasons.1978 August 19, R. Kirk, “Pro P'town”, in Gay Community News, volume 6, number 5, page 4. From the entry homophile
It was very different from such bookstores as he had been accustomed to patronize.1919, Christopher Morley, “The Haunted Bookshop”, in The Haunted Bookshop, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, →OCLC, page 4. From the entry alcove
Gave parties for all the campus arty-farties to come and drink up my booze and patronize me. . . .2013, Marge Piercy, Braided Lives: A Novel, page 217. From the entry arty-farty
I find Roman and Spanish steps just as fatiguing to climb as any others, and patronize the ascensors with vigor.1910, Agness Greene Foster, “Italy”, in By the Way: Travel Letters Written During Several Journeys Abroad […], revised and enlarged…. From the entry ascensor
The Sharp Corner was a second-class groggery and boarding house, patronized almost entirely by the poorest and most shiftless class of trackmen.1908, Allen Chapman, Bart Stirling's Road to Success. From the entry groggery
The downfall of Hindu royal dominance shifted the centre of gravity of Maithili literary activity to Nepal, where the courts had come to patronize Maithila culture.2013, Sanjukta Gupta, The Cosmic Play of Power: Goddess, Tantra and Women, Motilal Banarsidass, →ISBN, page 365. From the entry Maithila

Meaning of patronize

verb To act as a patron of; to defend, protect, or support.
verb To be a customer of (an establishment), especially a regular customer.
verb To treat condescendingly; to talk down to.

Full definition of patronize

Questions about patronize in a sentence

How do you use patronize in a sentence?: Patronize is used as a verb. For example: “She shops at discount department stores, but looks as if she patronized high-end boutiques.”
What is a short sentence with patronize?: “Pop sociology such as Liz Hodgkinson's Bodyshock patronized, cisplained and titillated.”
What does patronize mean?: Patronize means to act as a patron of; to defend, protect, or support.

Adapted from Wiktionary: patronize (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use patronize in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/patronize. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.