Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The quality of being well-mannered; refinement.
- noun The condition of being born to the gentry.
- noun Persons of high social standing considered as a group.
- noun An attempt to convey or maintain the appearance of refinement and elegance.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The quality or state of belonging to a certain gens, clan, or family; gentile relationship or stock.
- noun Noble or gentle birth.
- noun People of good birth; gentry.
- noun Gentile character; paganism; heathenism.
- noun The quality or state of being genteel; condition, appearance, or manner characteristic of polite society; genteel behavior; fashionableness; stylishness.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun Good extraction; dignity of birth.
- noun The quality or qualities appropriate to those who are well born, as self-respect, dignity, courage, courtesy, politeness of manner, a graceful and easy mien and behavior, etc.; good breeding.
- noun rare The class in society who are, or are expected to be, genteel; the gentry.
- noun obsolete Paganism; heathenism.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun uncountable The state of being
elegant ,genteel , having goodbreeding , or being sociallysuperior . - noun The
upper classes , thegentry .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun elegance by virtue of fineness of manner and expression
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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I said that my country-folk in general had a great many admirable qualities, but at the same time a great many foibles, foremost amongst which last was a crazy admiration for what they called gentility, which made them sycophantic to their superiors in station, and extremely insolent to those whom they considered below them.
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The generality of his countrymen are far more careful not to transgress the customs of what they call gentility, than to violate the laws of honour or morality.
Grammar. 1908
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The generality of his countrymen are far more careful not to transgress the customs of what they call gentility than to violate the laws of honour or morality.
The Romany Rye A Sequel to 'Lavengro' George Henry Borrow 1842
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The generality of his countrymen are far more careful not to transgress the customs of what they call gentility, than to violate the laws of honour or morality.
The Romany Rye George Henry Borrow 1842
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As Maryjean Wall relates in "How Kentucky Became Southern," the state's familiar gentility is largely invented — and relatively recently at that.
Behind the Bluegrass Max Watman 2010
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I'm the sort of person who publishes my opinion on the internet ... you can't expect much in the way of gentility from the likes of me.
The "I Told You So!" rabid1st 2003
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I say "gentility" -- but that is not exactly the word; for there is not the remotest trace of snobbishness in Henry James.
Suspended Judgments Essays on Books and Sensations John Cowper Powys 1917
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It is because the indefinable, but to those who can perceive it unmistakable, _aura_ of "gentility" -- in the true and not the debased sense -- is, at best, questionably present.
A History of the French Novel, Vol. 2 To the Close of the 19th Century George Saintsbury 1889
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Social intercourse disseminated these ideas among those to whom they were novel; where, previously, the highest motive to improvement had been a desire for convenience, the idea of gentility began to claim an influence; and some of the more moderate embellishments of life assumed the place of the mere necessaries.
Western Characters or Types of Border Life in the Western States J. L. McConnel
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To belong to this class when you were at the £400 a year level was a queer business, for it meant that your gentility was almost purely theoretical.
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