gentility
[jen-til-i-tee]
noun
good breeding or refinement.
affected or pretentious politeness or elegance.
the status of belonging to polite society.
members of polite society collectively.
RELATED WORDS
decorum, civility, elegance, propriety, aristocracy, respectability, politeness, urbanity, etiquette, flower, formality, society, culture, elite, rank, refinement, courtesy, gentry, polish, quality
Origin of gentility
Synonyms for gentility
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for gentility
Contemporary Examples of gentility
Packaging these rebuffs with gentility and kindness may or may not succeed.
Today: Germans on socialism, Russians on gentility, and gay men on the British royals.
Historical Examples of gentility
What, in the name of gentility, can you know of fashionable life?
The boy, Leonard Bast, stood at the extreme verge of gentility.
Howards EndE. M. Forster
By that road, his progress to the goal of gentility would be smooth and simple.
The Market-PlaceHarold Frederic
To me, this was a precious document; it was a patent of gentility at once.
Confessions Of Con CreganCharles James Lever
I knew that the gentility of the knock had taken both her and her mother aback.
A Window in ThrumsJ. M. Barrie
gentility
noun plural -ties
Word Origin for gentility
C14: from Old French gentilite, from Latin gentīlitās relationship of those belonging to the same tribe or family; see gens
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper