gentility

[jen-til-i-tee]

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noun

good breeding or refinement.
affected or pretentious politeness or elegance.
the status of belonging to polite society.

members of polite society collectively.

Origin of gentility

1300–50; Middle English < Old French gentilite < Latin gentīlitāt- (stem of gentīlitās), equivalent to gentīl(is) (see gentle) + -itāt- -ity

Related formsun·gen·til·i·ty, noun

Synonyms for gentility

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1. polish, grace, decorum, propriety.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for gentility

decorum, civility, elegance, propriety, aristocracy, respectability, politeness, urbanity, etiquette, flower, formality, society, culture, elite, rank, refinement, courtesy, gentry, polish, quality

Examples from the Web for gentility

Contemporary Examples of gentility

Packaging these rebuffs with gentility and kindness may or may not succeed.
How I Transformed My Boyfriend Into a Booty Call
Kate Carraway
November 8, 2008
Today: Germans on socialism, Russians on gentility, and gay men on the British royals.
The Week in Polls
Adam Hanft
October 17, 2008

Historical Examples of gentility

What, in the name of gentility, can you know of fashionable life?
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, No. 327
Various
The boy, Leonard Bast, stood at the extreme verge of gentility.
Howards End
E. M. Forster
By that road, his progress to the goal of gentility would be smooth and simple.
The Market-Place
Harold Frederic
To me, this was a precious document; it was a patent of gentility at once.
Confessions Of Con Cregan
Charles James Lever
I knew that the gentility of the knock had taken both her and her mother aback.
A Window in Thrums
J. M. Barrie

British Dictionary definitions for gentility

gentility

noun plural -ties

respectability and polite good breeding
affected politeness
noble birth or ancestry
people of noble birth

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 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for gentility

mid-14c., "gentle birth," from Old French gentilité (14c.) or directly from Latin gentilitatem (nominative gentilitas) "relationship in the same family or clan," from gentilis (see gentle). Meaning "state of being gentile" is from 1520s.