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All is extremely genteel; and there is almost as much repose as in the golden saloons of the contiguous palaces. At any rate, if there be as much vice, there is as little crime.
Isaac D'Israeli

Meaning of "genteel" in the English dictionary

Dictionary
DICTIONARY
section

ETYMOLOGY OF THE WORD GENTEEL

From French gentil well-born.
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Etymology is the study of the origin of words and their changes in structure and significance.
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PRONUNCIATION OF GENTEEL

genteel  [dʒɛnˈtiːl] play
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GRAMMATICAL CATEGORY OF GENTEEL

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation
Genteel is an adjective.
The adjective is the word that accompanies the noun to determine or qualify it.

WHAT DOES GENTEEL MEAN IN ENGLISH?

genteel

Gentry

Gentry are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Gentry, in its widest connotation, refers to people of good social position connected to landed estates, upper levels of the clergy, and "gentle" families of long descent who never obtained the official right to bear a coat of arms. In England, the term often refers to the social class of the landed aristocracy or to the minor aristocracy whose income derives from their large landholdings. The idea of gentry in the continental sense of "noblesse" is extinct in common parlance in England, despite the efforts of enthusiasts to revive it. Though the untitled nobility in England are normally termed gentry, the older sense of "nobility" is that of a quality identical to gentry. The fundamental social division in most parts of Europe in the Middle Ages was between the "nobiles", i.e., the tenants in chivalry, and the "ignobiles", i.e., the villeins, citizens and burgesses. The division into nobles and ignobles in smaller regions of Europe in the Middle Ages was less exact due to a more rudimentary feudal order.

Definition of genteel in the English dictionary

The first definition of genteel in the dictionary is affectedly proper or refined; excessively polite. Other definition of genteel is respectable, polite, and well-bred. Genteel is also appropriate to polite or fashionable society.

WORDS THAT RHYME WITH GENTEEL


Bastille
bæˈstiːl
Castile
kæˈstiːl
cockateel
ˌkɒkəˈtiːl
cockatiel
ˌkɒkəˈtiːl
coutil
kuːˈtiːl
dictyostele
ˈdɪktɪəˌstiːl
eustele
ˈjuːˌstiːl
Jugendstil
ˈjuːɡəntʃtiːl
manteel
mænˈtiːl
protostele
ˈprəʊtəˌstiːl
siphonostele
ˈsaɪfənəˌstiːl
steal
stiːl
steale
stiːl
steel
stiːl
Steele
stiːl
teal
tiːl
teil
tiːl
ungenteel
ˌʌndʒenˈtiːl
unsteel
ʌnˈstiːl

WORDS THAT BEGIN LIKE GENTEEL

gent
gentamicin
genteelise
genteelish
genteelism
genteelly
genteelness
gentes
gentian
gentian blue
gentian violet
gentianaceous
gentianella
gentil
gentile
Gentile da Fabriano
gentilesse
gentilhomme
gentilic
gentilise

WORDS THAT END LIKE GENTEEL

alloy steel
austenitic stainless steel
carbon steel
cast steel
chrome steel
cold steel
crucible steel
crude steel
end of steel
high-carbon steel
high-speed steel
high-tensile steel
manganese steel
mild steel
nickel steel
shabby-genteel
stainless steel
structural steel
tool steel
tubular steel

Synonyms and antonyms of genteel in the English dictionary of synonyms

SYNONYMS

SYNONYMS OF «GENTEEL»

The following words have a similar or identical meaning as «genteel» and belong to the same grammatical category.
synonyms of genteel

Translation of «genteel» into 25 languages

TRANSLATOR
online translator

TRANSLATION OF GENTEEL

Find out the translation of genteel to 25 languages with our English multilingual translator.
The translations of genteel from English to other languages presented in this section have been obtained through automatic statistical translation; where the essential translation unit is the word «genteel» in English.

Translator English - Chinese

有教养的
1,325 millions of speakers

Translator English - Spanish

distinguido
570 millions of speakers

English

genteel
510 millions of speakers

Translator English - Hindi

ललित
380 millions of speakers
ar

Translator English - Arabic

أنيق
280 millions of speakers

Translator English - Russian

благородный
278 millions of speakers

Translator English - Portuguese

fino
270 millions of speakers

Translator English - Bengali

সুশীল
260 millions of speakers

Translator English - French

distingué
220 millions of speakers

Translator English - Malay

Lembut
190 millions of speakers

Translator English - German

vornehm
180 millions of speakers

Translator English - Japanese

上品な
130 millions of speakers

Translator English - Korean

품위 있는
85 millions of speakers

Translator English - Javanese

Genteel
85 millions of speakers
vi

Translator English - Vietnamese

lịch sự
80 millions of speakers

Translator English - Tamil

உயர்குடிசார்ந்த
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Marathi

सभ्य
75 millions of speakers

Translator English - Turkish

soylu
70 millions of speakers

Translator English - Italian

distinto
65 millions of speakers

Translator English - Polish

dystyngowany
50 millions of speakers

Translator English - Ukrainian

благородний
40 millions of speakers

Translator English - Romanian

binevoitor
30 millions of speakers
el

Translator English - Greek

ευγενικός
15 millions of speakers
af

Translator English - Afrikaans

deftig
14 millions of speakers
sv

Translator English - Swedish

elegans
10 millions of speakers
no

Translator English - Norwegian

fornem
5 millions of speakers

Trends of use of genteel

TRENDS

TENDENCIES OF USE OF THE TERM «GENTEEL»

The term «genteel» is regularly used and occupies the 79.002 position in our list of most widely used terms in the English dictionary.
0
100%
FREQUENCY
Regularly used
63
/100
The map shown above gives the frequency of use of the term «genteel» in the different countries.
Principal search tendencies and common uses of genteel
List of principal searches undertaken by users to access our English online dictionary and most widely used expressions with the word «genteel».

FREQUENCY OF USE OF THE TERM «GENTEEL» OVER TIME

The graph expresses the annual evolution of the frequency of use of the word «genteel» during the past 500 years. Its implementation is based on analysing how often the term «genteel» appears in digitalised printed sources in English between the year 1500 and the present day.

Examples of use in the English literature, quotes and news about genteel

EXAMPLES

6 QUOTES WITH «GENTEEL»

Famous quotes and sentences with the word genteel.
1
Margaret Cavendish
A rude nature is worse than a brute nature by so much more as man is better than a beast: and those that are of civil natures and genteel dispositions are as much nearer to celestial creatures as those that are rude and cruel are to devils.
2
Isaac D'Israeli
All is extremely genteel; and there is almost as much repose as in the golden saloons of the contiguous palaces. At any rate, if there be as much vice, there is as little crime.
3
Rosemary Mahoney
Writing is not a genteel profession; it's quite nasty and tough and kind of dirty.
4
Rhea Perlman
Everyone's surprised when they meet me. I guess it's because I've played tough cookies for so long... It's what I do best. I'm not sure I could pull off a genteel Southern belle.
5
Vincent Piazza
A lot of people say, 'I always knew Lucky Luciano as a very smooth, very elegant, very powerful man.' All the accounts of him as an older man were that he was very genteel but he still had the look of smothered violence behind his eyes.
6
Amy Vanderbilt
I am a journalist in the field of etiquette. I try to find out what the most genteel people regularly do, what traditions they have discarded, what compromises they have made.

10 ENGLISH BOOKS RELATING TO «GENTEEL»

Discover the use of genteel in the following bibliographical selection. Books relating to genteel and brief extracts from same to provide context of its use in English literature.
1
Genteel Rebel: The Life of Mary Greenhow Lee
As a Confederate sympathizer in the hotly contested small border town of Winchester, Virginia, she ran an underground postal service, hid contraband under her nieces' dresses, abetted the Rebel cause, and was finally banished.
Sheila R. Phipps, 2004
2
Genteel Pagan: The Double Life of Charles Warren Stoddard
Presenting a biography of a homosexual writer by a gay literary historian, this book offers new material on the formation of gender roles in late 19th-century America.
Roger Austen, John William Crowley, 1995
3
O Genteel Lady!
1926. The book begins: I have nothing, she thought, but myself.
Esther Forbes, 2004
4
Racial Propositions: "Genteel Apartheid" in Postwar California
Little focus has been placed on the historic soils that nourished these conflicts.
Daniel Wei HoSang, 2007
5
Genteel Rhetoric: Writing High Culture in Nineteenth-century ...
An examination of how the New England intelligentsia set out to establish cultural independence from England through a uniquely American literature.
Dorothy C. Broaddus, 1999
6
The Rudiments of Genteel Behavior
Charmingly, this very rare book of 1737, reprinted in facsimile, provides delightful text and images explaining 'deportment'. The text is remarkably direct, precise and informative.
François Nivelon, 1737
7
The Genteel Tradition: Nine Essays
That address appears in this collection of nine essays touching on American idealism and materialism and American endeavor, sacred and profane.
George Santayana, Douglas L. Wilson, 1998
8
Jessie: The Story of a Genteel Lady in Frontier Alaska
Clues in the trunk about the owner's life-a photo album, a journal, a postcard collection and a diary-led the author on an international treasure hunt which revealed the story of Jessie.
Betty Wyatt, 2006
9
A Genteel Endeavor: American Culture and Politics in the ...
American Culture and Politics in the Gilded Age John Tomsich. the middle classes; any effect on the rest of America would be incidental. The genteel writers firmly resisted attempts to extend their audience much beyond its size at mid- century.
John Tomsich, 1971
10
The Mark Twain Encyclopedia
First coined as a term in 1911 by George Santayana, the genteel tradition designates a hegemonic influence in American life from the early decades of the nineteenth century to the first decade of the twentieth. The tradition, originating in the ...
J. R. LeMaster, James Darrell Wilson, Christie Graves Hamric, 1993

10 NEWS ITEMS WHICH INCLUDE THE TERM «GENTEEL»

Find out what the national and international press are talking about and how the term genteel is used in the context of the following news items.
1
Williamson Aims at Trump's 'WHINOs'–and Misses the Mark
... sometimes unfairly–seem to share the fanciful idea that the GOP primary was all set to be a genteel affair until Trump crashed the party. It is a ... «Breitbart News, Jul 15»
2
Review: 'Arabella' Brings Intrigue to the Munich Opera Festival
Even the debauchery of the ball, where Arabella and Mandryka finally meet, has a genteel atmosphere. When Eir Inderhaug's uneasy ... «New York Times, Jul 15»
3
Quotes of the day An error occurred. An error occurred. An error …
... sometimes unfairly–seem to share the fanciful idea that the GOP primary was all set to be a genteel affair until Trump crashed the party. «Hot Air, Jul 15»
4
He's afraid of blood
With his spectacles and genteel features, he looks every bit like the sensitive neurosurgeon he played in the show, but he says he could never ... «The Straits Times, Jul 15»
5
Why The Outcast is no ordinary period drama
Set in an aesthetically pleasing and sunny version of the past, full of rolling lawns, huge country houses and genteel drinks parties, it's as ... «Radio Times, Jul 15»
6
Lord Green can't get out of this HSBC grilling
... chair of the upper house's economic affairs committee, has invited him to have his say at a genteel-sounding session on “banking culture”. «HITC, Jul 15»
7
Save for the golden years
Not even government servants, who could once upon a time lead genteel lives on their pensions. In India, we don't have a mindset towards ... «Mid-Day, Jul 15»
8
10 Of The Best Books Of Summer 2015
Furious when she rejects an arranged marriage, Clara's father sends her to a genteel home for nervous invalids. But when his fortune is lost in ... «Huffington Post, Jul 15»
9
Epic memories
Navratilova's guarded carping is especially unfortunate, given that she transformed women's tennis from a prissy, genteel sport into a properly ... «Calcutta Telegraph, Jul 15»
10
Photo Flash: Sneak Peek at Marianna Bassham in The Gamm's A …
... beauty whose brutish brother-in-law, Stanley, cruelly exposes Blanche's genteel façade and brings her last gasp at meaning to a tragic end. «Broadway World, Jul 15»

REFERENCE
« EDUCALINGO. Genteel [online]. Available <https://educalingo.com/en/dic-en/genteel>. Apr 2024 ».
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