noun
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conspicuous courage, esp in war
the gallantry of the troops
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polite attentiveness to women
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a gallant action, speech, etc
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of gallantry
1600–10; < Middle French galanterie, equivalent to Old French galant ( see gallant) + -erie -ry
Explanation
Gallantry is an old-fashioned word for brave behavior in a man, especially on the battlefield. Another meaning for gallantry is an extreme form of courtesy and respect towards women, often referred to as chivalry, and the two words are used interchangeably. The most famous examples of gallantry and chivalry can be found in the stories of the mythical King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, who were always fighting other knights for the favor of a fair princess's hand.
Vocabulary lists containing gallantry
Talk Like Shakespeare Day, List 1
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"The Book Thief" by Markus Zusak, Part Four
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A Streetcar Named Desire
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Roberts-Smith won the Victoria Cross -- Australia's highest military honour -- for "conspicuous gallantry" in Afghanistan while on the hunt for a senior Taliban commander.
From Barron's ● Apr. 7, 2026
When someone’s smart we say he has brains and if he’s brave he has guts, but gallantry isn’t assigned a human part and so must be a thing of the soul.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 1, 2026
The George Medal is Britain's second-highest civilian bravery award after the George Cross, and is given for "conspicuous gallantry not in the presence of the enemy".
From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2025
Corporal Sidney Bates posthumously received Britain's Victoria Cross for "supreme gallantry" after repeatedly charging a critical German position with a light machine gun before dying of his wounds.
From Reuters ● Nov. 12, 2023
I was touched by his gallantry, since he believed me disfigured.
From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine
But Bausch expands her premise to embrace a world of ritualised gallantries and perfectly achieved appearance.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 21, 2012
Residual gallantries survive all over the society, but it takes something of an individualist to practice them.
From Time Magazine Archive
Agent Donat arrives by parachute, spends a few minutes disguised as a Rumanian peasant, then transforms himself into Tartu, a Rumanian Iron Guardist, reeking with pomade, corny gallantries and devotion to the New Order.
From Time Magazine Archive
Davy was a poor scholar, preferring to do impersonations rather than homework ; he would even listen at the keyhole of the Johnson bedroom and later mimic the schoolmaster's clumsy gallantries.
From Time Magazine Archive
Emerging from behind the garbage can, he found her beautiful, his French blood flared up, and he proceeded to gallantries unmistakable even to the slack eyes of mademoiselle’s mistress.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
