pander

[pan-der]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR pander ON THESAURUS.COM

noun Also pan·der·er.

a person who furnishes clients for a prostitute or supplies persons for illicit sexual intercourse; procurer; pimp.

a person who caters to or profits from the weaknesses or vices of others.

a go-between in amorous intrigues.

verb (used without object)

to act as a pander; cater basely: to pander to the vile tastes of vulgar persons.

verb (used with object)

to act as a pander for.

Origin of pander

1325–75; earlier pandar(e), generalized use of Middle English name Pandare Pandarus

Related formspan·der·age, nounpan·der·ing·ly, adverbpan·der·ism, nounpan·der·ly, adjective

Can be confusedpanda pander

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for pandered

satisfy, gratify, please, snow, stroke, cajole, soap, massage, politic

Examples from the Web for pandered

Contemporary Examples of pandered

Brewer, the newspaper contended, pandered to her base by picking on kids who deserved support instead of mean-spirited bullying.
Jan Brewer’s Immigration Backlash Begins
Terry Greene Sterling
December 2, 2012
Michael Tomasky on how Romney pandered to the GOP base and offered no real solutions.
Romney's Shallow Speech
Michael Tomasky
October 8, 2011

Historical Examples of pandered

Others had merely amused his leisure or pandered to his vices.
The History of England from the Accession of James II.
Thomas Babington Macaulay
Prejudices are pandered to in public, which in private are despised.
Character
Samuel Smiles
Thus they first created a bad taste, and then pandered to it.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 64, No.394, August, 1848
Various
And she pandered to his weakness, smiled upon it as if it were an epic strength.
The Guarded Heights
Wadsworth Camp
Altogether, the instinct of sex is not pandered to in Oxford.
Zuleika Dobson
Max Beerbohm

British Dictionary definitions for pandered

pander

verb

(intr foll by to) to give gratification (to weaknesses or desires)

(archaic when tr) to act as a go-between in a sexual intrigue (for)

noun Also: panderer

a person who caters for vulgar desires, esp in order to make money

a person who procures a sexual partner for another; pimp

Word Origin for pander

C16 (n): from Pandare Pandarus

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for pandered

pander

"arranger of sexual liaisons, one who supplies another with the means of gratifying lust," 1520s, "procurer, pimp," from Middle English Pandare (late 14c.), used by Chaucer ("Troylus and Cryseyde"), who borrowed it from Boccaccio (who had it in Italian form Pandaro in "Filostrato") as name of the prince (Greek Pandaros), who procured the love of Cressida (his niece in Chaucer, his cousin in Boccaccio) for Troilus. The story and the name are medieval inventions. Spelling influenced by agent suffix -er.

pander

"to indulge (another), to minister to base passions," c.1600, from pander (n.). Related: Pandered; pandering.

pandered in Medicine

Pander

[pän′dər]Christian Heinrich 1794-1865

Russian-born German anatomist and pioneer embryologist. With Karl Ernst von Baer he discovered the distinct structural layers of the chick embryo.