Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To act as a go-between or liaison in sexual intrigues; function as a procurer.
- v. To cater to the lower tastes and desires of others or exploit their weaknesses: "He refused to pander to nostalgia and escapism” ( New York Times).
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who caters for the lusts of others; a male bawd; a pimp or procurer.
- n. Hence One who ministers to the gratification of any of the baser passions of others.
- To cater for the lusts of others.
- To minister to others' passions or prejudices for selfish ends.
- To cater for the gratification of the lusts or passions of; pimp for.
Wiktionary
- n. A person who furthers the illicit love-affairs of others; a pimp or procurer, especially when male. (Later panderer.)
- n. An offer of illicit sex with a third party.
- n. An illicit or illegal offer, usually to tempt.
- v. To offer illicit sex with a third party; to pimp.
- v. To tempt with, to appeal or cater to (improper motivations etc.); to assist in the gratification of.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A male bawd; a pimp; a procurer.
- n. Hence, one who ministers to the evil designs and passions of another.
- v. To play the pander for.
- v. To act the part of a pander.
WordNet 3.0
- v. yield (to); give satisfaction to
- n. someone who procures customers for whores (in England they call a pimp a ponce)
- v. arrange for sexual partners for others
Etymologies
- Middle English Pandare, Pandarus, from Old Italian Pandaro, from Latin Pandarus, from Greek Pandaros.
Examples
“Anyone who thinks it through or reads about economics will come to the conclusion this pander is a farce.”
“Do ads in English "pander" to an English-speaking audience?”
“Matthew Weaver thinks that ads in Spanish "pander" to a Spanish-speaking audience.”
“This whole pander is perhaps the most disgusting, contemptible thing we've seen from her yet, and I doubt she's come close to hitting bottom yet.”
“That the base to which they pander is the religious fundamentalist whose male dominance over females is renowned can no longer be in doubt.”
Think Progress » Breaking: GAO Confirms FDA Put Ideology Before Science On Plan B
“It's the latest attempt to appeal -- Democrats would use the word "pander" -- to the GOP conservative base at the election season looms.”
“I'm not looking forward to a day where Republicans begin to pander, which is exactly what will happen.”
“A priest, and, as he says, a priest who might more appropriately be called a pander, seduced this witch with words of love and carried her off.”
“gy: to pander is to gratify the desires of others, according to mw online.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘pander’.
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Topical
The buzzwords of our time
actionable, administrivia, advermation, agreeance, backbone provider, back-sourcing, baked in, bandwidth, barn raising, Barneyware, belly-buttons, Below Zeros and 734 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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14
Allege, conclusive, counterpart, dismal, enthrall, exotic, incredulous, legendary, lurk, menagerie, naive, pander and 3 more...
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14
allege, conclusive, counterpart, dismal, enthrall, exotic, incredulous, legendary, lurk, menagerie, naive, pander and 3 more...
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-er
person who; thing or action; repeatedly; comparative degree
farmer, New Yorker, double-header, flicker, cooler, better, flasher, fighter, worker, singer, dancer, doer and 13 more...
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carolinacc's list
jettisoned, yearn, chrestomathy, catachresis, elation, gesundheit, ohne, tertium quid, iota, oscillation, argillous, flagrate and 67 more...

tbtabby Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4:
"reason panders will." Sep 2, 2009
sionnach Origin: 1325–75; earlier pandar(e), generalized use of ME name Pandarus Oct 26, 2007