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Glite Dictionary
🙄 To talk down 🛒 To be a customer 💰 To support financially
to patronize

to patronize

14 5.3
To often buy things from a shop or use its services
  • verb
  • /ˈpeɪtrəˌnaɪz/
  • US
translation icon : frecuentar
  • Summer residents attended concerts at the Grecian Temple of Arts, patronized the library, and supported the arts and crafts society.
  • patronize restaurants
  • patronize a business
  • patronize their establishments

Or say you stop patronizing all massage parlors and use a massage chair instead?

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Examples

  • Cruise-ship excursionists are predictable arrivals, and stayovers in nearby beach resorts patronize facilities and services available in the dominant urban centers.

    Academic text (1993)

  • Iraqis would socialize, shop, and patronize restaurants and cabarets well past midnight and into the early hours of morning.

    Academic text (2007)

  • What kind of people patronize this service?

    Mallrats (1995)

  • And there are many of us who patronize one hall in preference to another.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • And people have the right to make their own decisions to patronize or boycott the business.

    Blog text (16)

  • I think a simple way to eat responsibly is to patronize your local farmer's market!

    Blog text (10)

  • Shoppers, he said, would then patronize other local businesses, helping to uplift the entire strip.

    Blog text (20)

  • Voice your opinion and vote by listening to local shows and patronizing local advertisers.

    Blog text (1)

  • Today, the Viennese continue to patronize the coffeehouses and avidly peruse the newspapers' swollen arts sections.

    Academic text (2008)

  • Many customers choose to patronize local businesses to support their community.

Synonyms

to shop
vsto patronize
557 1.0

To visit stores to buy things

highlights regular support and continued buying rather than casual browsing
to shop at
vsto patronize
62 1.0

To buy things or be a customer at a store

stresses ongoing patronage rather than a single purchase
to frequent
vsto patronize
49 3.2

To visit a place often, for example a coffee shop or club

implies repeated purchase or support rather than mere visits
to buy at
vsto patronize
24 1.0

To shop as a customer at a particular store or seller

focuses on regular customer support rather than one-off shopping
to support
vsto patronize
19 2.6

Often buy from a business to help it continue

has the same meaning and is the listed headword here

Antonyms

to boycott
72 4.2

To refuse to buy, use, or take part in something to protest

How Often

to frequent
49 3.2
to patronize
  • US
14 5.3
to visit
∞ 1.0
to drop in
  • Informal
72 3.6

Surface Forms

patronize infinitive
patronized past
patronized past participle
patronizing present participle
patronizes third person singular

Morphology

patronize = patron (transparent) = patron + ize

Standard verb formation from the noun 'patron' with the productive suffix '-ize' meaning 'to act as or be a patron', so the sense 'be a regular customer' is directly derived.

Etymology

Patronize comes from patron, an old word meaning 'protector' or 'father', and long ago a patron would support a shop by coming often. So to patronize a business means to be a regular customer and give it your support.