condone Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. verb excuse, overlook, or make allowances for; be lenient with
    excuse.
    • excuse someone's behavior
    • She condoned her husband's occasional infidelities

WordNet

Con*done" transitive verb
Etymology
L. condonare, -donatum, to give up, remit, forgive; con- + donare to give. See Donate.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Condoned ; present participle & verbal noun Condoning
Definitions
  1. To pardon; to forgive.
    A fraud which he had either concocted or condoned. W. Black.
    It would have been magnanimous in the men then in power to have overlooked all these things, and, condoning the politics, to have rewarded the poetry of Burns. J. C. Shairp.
    1b. to consider or treat as if harmless or trivial
  2. (Law) To pardon; to overlook the offense of; esp., to forgive for a violation of the marriage law; -- said of either the husband or the wife.

Webster 1913