gentilesse
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of gentilesse
1300–50; Middle English < Middle French gentillesse, equivalent to gentil ( see genteel, gentle) + -esse noun suffix
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.
It’s for grammatical consistency, not beauty or gentilesse, for example, that correct English has us say “It was he” instead of “It was him.”
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 3, 2014
You look like one of those Frenchified Norman gentilesse, with your smooth locks and gilded baldrick, yet your words are Norse.
From The Little Duke by Yonge, Charlotte Mary
Crist wol, we clayme of him our gentilesse, Nat of our eldres for hir old richesse.
From Chaucer and His Times by Hadow, Grace E.
Imitating the examples of his elder brothers who had received the highest polish of English gentilesse and French etiquette he became a polished gentleman in his manners.
From Sages and Heroes of the American Revolution by Judson, L. Carroll
So wot I nothing after kinde Where I mai gentilesse finde.
From Confessio Amantis, or, Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins by Macaulay, G. C. (George Campbell)
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.
