patronize

Compared meaning: to give money to support an event or activity (verb).

比较义项：赞助（动词）。

• sponsor

  The common, neutral word for paying to support an event, team, or activity, often for publicity; used constantly in business and sports contexts.

  这是最常用、中性的词，指出钱支持某项活动、团队或事件，通常带有宣传目的，常见于商业和体育语境。

  The soccer team is looking for a company willing to sponsor next season's uniforms.

  这支足球队正在寻找愿意赞助下赛季球衣的公司。

• patronize 本词

  A formal, less common word for financially supporting a business or person; sounds old-fashioned or literary here, and readers may instead expect its more frequent sense of treating someone condescendingly.

  这是一个较为正式、不太常用的词，指在经济上支持某个商家或个人，用在这里显得有些老派或书面化，读者也更可能联想到它更常见的“居高临下地对待某人”这一含义。

  Wealthy merchants used to patronize young artists so they could keep painting.

  富商们过去常常赞助年轻艺术家，好让他们能继续作画。

Sponsor and patronize can both mean to give money to support something. Sponsor is the common, neutral word, used often in business and sports. Patronize is formal and rare, and sounds old-fashioned; readers more often expect its other meaning, to treat someone as less important.

两词在“出钱支持某人或某事”这一意义上接近，但 sponsor 是中性、常见的商业或公益用语，patronize 在这个意义上略显正式、少用，且更容易让人联想到它另一个常见义——居高临下地对待某人；这里不比较 patronize 的“摆架子、屈尊俯就地对待”这一义项。