Condone means to forgive, overlook, or pardon another person’s wrong or illegal action, which makes it appear as if the action is acceptable to the person/entity condoning it.
Some common uses of the term “condone” in the legal sense include:
- Cases such as this one from North Carolina explain that condone means “to forgive or overlook, or permit the continuance of, for purposes of the provision of punitive damages statute authorizing punitive damages to be imposed against the corporation if its officers, directors or managers condoned the conduct giving rise to punitive damages.” A corporate manager is said to have condoned an employee’s actions when the manager is aware of those actions and does not intervene.
- In the context of divorce, condone means to forgive.
[Last updated in June of 2021 by the Wex Definitions Team]