GENTILITY • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Gentility

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/dʒɛntˈɪlɪti/ Listen

noun

Gentility n.

Good extraction; dignity of birth. "He... mines my gentility with my education."

The quality or qualities appropriate to those who are well born, as self-respect, dignity, courage, courtesy, politeness of manner, a graceful and easy mien and behavior, etc.; good breeding.

The class in society who are, or are expected to be, genteel; the gentry. (R.)

Paganism; heathenism. (Obs.)

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Etymology of 'Gentility'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Gentility" Quotes from Famous Books

... generations the Opp family had been a source of mystery and romance to the Cove. It stood apart, like the house that held it, poor and shabby, but bearing a baffling atmosphere of gentility, of superiority, and ...

— Mr. Opp • Alice Hegan Rice

... minds in all useful knowledge; to render them obedient to their superiors, and gentle, kind, and affectionate to each other; yet did she not omit teaching them an exact neatness in their persons and dress, and a perfect gentility in their whole carriage. ...

— The Governess - The Little Female Academy • Sarah Fielding

... supply you with candidates for employment at a cheaper rate than you can obtain the services of a first-class cook. This young man had tried everything that was genteel: he had even aspired to literature: sought employment on the Press, on the Stage, everywhere in fact where gentility seemed to reign. Nor do I think he lacked ability for any of these walks; it was not ability but opportunity that ...

— The Humourous Story of Farmer Bumpkin's Lawsuit • Richard Harris

... initiative. She still endeavoured to respect the understanding of a girl of whom she had heard that when her father's fortunes were at a low ebb she had retrieved them by good management and personal industry—a girl, too, who through years of toil had preserved sprightliness and perfect gentility. What though this gentility was somewhat cramped by that undue importance given to trifles which is often the result of a remote life; it was still a very lovely thing, a jewel shining all the more purely for its iron setting of honest labour. Sophia fought with the ...

— What Necessity Knows • Lily Dougall

... recent creation in life, as in letters. Christ was the foremost and first gentleman. After him all gentility patterns. With the law of the imagination we are familiar, which is this: Imagination deals only with materials supplied by the senses. Imagination, in other words, is not strictly originative, but, rather, appropriative, giving a varied placing to images ...

— A Hero and Some Other Folks • William A. Quayle

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