gent
noun
gent
1 American
[jent]
/ dʒɛnt /
noun
-
gents
plural
gent
2
American
[jent]
/ dʒɛnt /
adjective
Obsolete.
Gent
3
American
[kh ent]
/ xɛnt /
noun
Gent.
4
American
Or
gent.
abbreviation
Gent
1
British
/ xɛnt /
noun
gent
2
British
/ dʒɛnt /
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of gent1
First recorded in 1555–65; by shortening
Origin of gent2
1175–1225; Middle English < Old French < Latin genitus begotten, born
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:
A well-educated cosmopolitan gent whose inherited family riches were expanded under his watch, a man who understood the economy and helped people manage their money, which was how he made money of his own.
From Slate ● Nov. 28, 2023
Hiking ancient Roman roads, we encountered a friendly gent.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 30, 2023
Only in the last verse does the listener learn that it wasn’t a woman who left the now crazed gent, but a dog.
From New York Times ● Mar. 17, 2023
UB40's Judge Jules described Jazz as an "incredible talent and a complete gent", while DJ and radio presenter Mistajam remarked that Jazz's "words and performances touched so many of us".
From BBC ● Dec. 24, 2022
Nicole would tell me later that up to this point Dave was a sweetheart and a total gent, but that afternoon he was jacked up on too many Red Bulls or whatever, desperate.
From "Burning Blue" by Paul Griffin
Fofana began his career at KAA Gent before joining the Ligue 1 side in 2024.
From BBC ● Sep. 1, 2026
“A really practical consideration is just the hair and make-up process of aging someone up or down,” said the screenwriter Holly Gent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
“We don’t have to stick to the cause-and-effect of which people are going to reappear later in the story,” Gent noted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 30, 2025
But as the script by Holly Gent and Vincent Palmo Jr. notes, this clique is in transition.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2025
Captain Stokes, who peremptorily ordered Mr. O'Brien off to prison, seems to be the sort of a man that Charles Dickens described as a "Harbitrary Gent."
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 93, Nov. 11, 1887 by Various
"I've met with the parents of Terri, her ex-partner, and also the parents of Connie Gent. I think all of them were shocked by what we had found."
From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2023
In the Brooke-Dethick feud, it becomes clear that “Shakespeare, Gent. from Stratford” and “Shakespeare the Player” are the same man.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 7, 2017
His sister was wife to Sir Nathaniel Brent, whose younger son Nathaniel left all his property to his cousin Maurice Abbott, of St. Andrew's, Holborn, Gent., in 1688; which Maurice was possibly son to Thomas.
From Notes and Queries, Number 228, March 11, 1854 A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc by Various
Enter a Gent. and 2 or 3 with Mony.
From Beaumont & Fletcher's Works (3 of 10): The Loyal Subject by Francis Beaumont
Peake, Gent., deceased, and at the same meeting it was ordered that the sexton at Falls Church be allowed 560 pounds of tobacco for his services.
From A Virginia Village by Charles Alexander Stewart
FBI Director Kash Patel on Wednesday highlighted a separate partnership with the UFC to teach federal gents "amazing tactics so they can safeguard American lives."
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
“One of the gents has said on many occasions if he wasn’t in the group he wouldn’t be here now – the group has saved his life.”
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2024
It’s definitely all about the gents for the foreseeable future.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2022
Early on, some saw films as disreputable, even dangerous — and what were ladies and gents doing in the dark? — but also as a conduit to moral uplift, social reform, education.
From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2022
“Ladies bow low and the gents bow under, couples up tight and swing like thunder!”
From "Hattie Big Sky" by Kirby Larson
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
