gentle
[jen-tl]
- kindly; amiable: a gentle manner.
- not severe, rough, or violent; mild: a gentle wind; a gentle tap on the shoulder.
- moderate: gentle heat.
- gradual: a gentle slope.
- of good birth or family; wellborn.
- characteristic of good birth; honorable; respectable: a gentle upbringing.
- easily handled or managed; tractable: a gentle animal.
- soft or low: a gentle sound.
- polite; refined: Consider, gentle reader, my terrible predicament at this juncture.
- entitled to a coat of arms; armigerous.
- Archaic. noble; chivalrous: a gentle knight.
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- to tame; render tractable.
- to mollify; calm; pacify.
- to make gentle.
- to stroke; soothe by petting.
- to ennoble; dignify.
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Origin of gentle
Synonyms
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.com1. clement, peaceful, pacific, soothing; tender, humane, lenient, merciful. Gentle, meek, mild refer to an absence of bad temper or belligerence. Gentle has reference especially to disposition and behavior, and often suggests a deliberate or voluntary kindness or forbearance in dealing with others: a gentle pat; gentle with children. Meek implies a submissive spirit, and may even indicate undue submission in the face of insult or injustice: meek and even servile or weak. Mild suggests absence of harshness or severity, rather because of natural character or temperament than conscious choice: a mild rebuke; a mild manner. 3. temperate. 5. noble. 7. manageable, docile, tame, quiet. 9. courteous; polished.
Antonyms
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
tendernesskindnessfragilitysoftnesscautioncarefulnesspliabilitymildnessdelicacypliancysmoothnessobediencemeeknesstamenessExamples from the Web for gentleness
Contemporary Examples
When he does, here is a gentleness in his voice, a reflective and lovely quality that no movie he has been in has ever captured.
I wanted to somehow plug into it with gentleness and love, because those are things I feel comfortable with.
The Casual Genius of Jenny Slate: ‘Marcel the Shell,’ ‘Obvious Child,’ and the Ghost of ‘SNL’Kevin Fallon
October 17, 2014
His brown eyes were penetrating yet peaceful, and he immediately disarmed my nervousness with his gentleness.
When Gary Wright Met George Harrison: Dream Weaver, John and Yoko, and MoreGary Wright
September 29, 2014
His body has an even grace, his face a restless eagerness, and a gentleness, not to be confused with ‘niceness,’ is his manner.
I dreaded to hear what he was going to say, but he spoke with the same simplicity and gentleness.
Read ‘The King in Yellow,’ the ‘True Detective’ Reference That’s the Key to the ShowRobert W. Chambers
February 20, 2014
Historical Examples
"Trouble him not," murmured the melancholy man, with gentleness.
The Christmas Banquet (From "Mosses From An Old Manse")Nathaniel Hawthorne
Notwithstanding their gentleness, during the first year the Huberts were often discouraged.
The DreamEmile Zola
Gentleness and mercy should blend their benign influences with justice.
Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. IFrancis Augustus Cox
He had been early trained to gentleness, docility, and goodness.
Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. IFrancis Augustus Cox
All the lines in his face were those of gentleness and truth.
Tiverton TalesAlice Brown
gentleness
- the quality of being gentle
- physics a property of elementary particles, conserved in certain strong interactionsSee also charm 1 (def. 7)
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gentle
- having a mild or kindly nature or character
- soft or temperate; mild; moderatea gentle scolding
- graduala gentle slope
- easily controlled; tamea gentle horse
- archaic of good breeding; noblegentle blood
- archaic gallant; chivalrous
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- to tame or subdue (a horse)
- to appease or mollify
- obsolete to ennoble or dignify
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- a maggot, esp when used as bait in fishing
- archaic a person who is of good breeding
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Word Origin
C13: from Old French gentil noble, from Latin gentīlis belonging to the same family; see gens
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for gentleness
gentle
adj.
early 13c., "well-born," from Old French gentil "high-born, noble, of good family" (11c., in Modern French "nice, graceful, pleasing; fine pretty"), from Latin gentilis "of the same family or clan," from gens (genitive gentis) "race, clan," from root of gignere "beget," from PIE root *gen- "produce" (see genus). Sense of "gracious, kind" (now obsolete) first recorded late 13c.; that of "mild, tender" is 1550s. Older sense remains in gentleman.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper