noun
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respectability and polite good breeding
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affected politeness
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noble birth or ancestry
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people of noble birth
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gentility
1300–50; Middle English < Old French gentilite < Latin gentīlitāt- (stem of gentīlitās ), equivalent to gentīl ( is ) ( see gentle) + -itāt- -ity
Explanation
Anyone can be nice. Many people have good manners. But gentility is that rare kind of graciousness that is handed down from one elegant generation to the next. In the early 13th century, gentility described someone's social status, coming from the Old French word gentil, meaning "high-born, noble, of good family." Over time the word's meaning broadened to include those coming from a family whose members had a refined manner and an elegant way of expressing themselves — no title of nobility required, just as today anyone can be a gentleman (or woman).
Vocabulary lists containing gentility
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Tuck Everlasting
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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.
"Gentility of speech is at an end," thundered an editorial in London's City Press, in 1858.
From BBC • Oct. 15, 2017
Gentility and cultivation have made him a social favorite and an incessant host to visiting notables.
From Time Magazine Archive
Gentility and blood sport are old friends, but the mix of the wealthy and the rustic at Armstrong Ranch that weekend was exceptional.
From Time Magazine Archive
Gentility and blood sport are old friends, but the mix of the wealthy and the rustic at Armstrong Ranch that weekend was exceptional.
From Time Magazine Archive
From Gentility, we wil descend to ciuility, which is or should be in the townesmen.
From The Survey of Cornwall And an epistle concerning the excellencies of the English tongue by Carew, Richard
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.
