ENGLISH
REFERENCE

condone

v.
C1 Advanced US //kənˈdoʊn// UK //kəndˈəʊn// con·done

v. to accept or allow behavior that is wrong or offensive. When you do this, you treat a bad action as if it is okay or not important.

v. to accept or allow behavior that is considered morally wrong or offensive to continue. Often implies a tacit approval or a failure to take corrective action.


SIMPLE

The school does not condone bullying of any kind.

CONTEXTUAL

By remaining silent during the meeting, the manager seemed to condone the aggressive behavior of his staff.

COMPLEX

While the government officially denounced the violence, critics argued that the lack of subsequent arrests suggested they were willing to condone such actions to maintain political stability.

Synonyms
Origin

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

Usage

The verb is transitive and takes a direct object, usually an action or a type of behavior.

Pitfall

I do not condone to cheating.I do not condone cheating.Condone is a transitive verb and should be followed directly by a noun or gerund, not a prepositional phrase starting with 'to'.

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