✅ Condescending and supercilious both describe someone who implies, through actions and manner, that they are superior to someone else.

✅ Condescending particularly emphasizes being patronizing (The teacher was condescending toward their students).

✅ Supercilious emphasizes haughtiness and contempt (a supercilious politician).

✅ Condescending and supercilious can both describe people, but can also describe facial expressions, tones of voice, written communication, or similar things (The letter from her rich aunt was supercilious, full of condescending descriptions of her travel accommodations).

Describe a supercilious person with the help of Grammar Coach.

✅ Diligent describes someone who accomplishes a task in a dedicated and persistent way. It can also suggest doing something thoroughly, with great attention to detail (a diligent student; The detective was particularly diligent).

✅ Assiduous describes someone who accomplishes a task through consistent effort and hard work. It can also describe something constant or incessant (an assiduous worker; assiduous rain).

✅ Assiduous and diligent have pretty similar meanings, with assiduous also meaning constant, while diligent does not.

✅ Assiduous is a less common and more formal word than diligent.

We’re sure you’ll be assiduous in checking out these synonyms.

✅ Refined describes someone or something that has classy or elegant sensibilities. It’s associated with ideas of good breeding and high status (The party was full of refined people with very refined tastes).

✅ Genteel suggests someone who is polite and elegant, often but not always indicating a kind of affectation or pretense (The actor had a reputation for being a bit too genteel).

✅ Genteel primarily describes your behavior and the way in which you interact with people, often suggesting pretentiousness, whereas refined primarily describes your tastes and feelings (He had a refined palate; She behaved in a delicate and genteel manner).

These synonyms will make your vocabulary more genteel!