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Definition of "gallant" []

  • Smartly or boldly stylish; dashing: a gallant feathered hat; cut a gallant figure at the coronation. (adjective)
  • Unflinching in battle or action; valiant: put up a gallant resistance to the attackers. (adjective)
  • Nobly or selflessly resolute: made a gallant attempt to save his friend's reputation. (adjective)
  • Stately; majestic. (adjective)
  • Courteously attentive especially to women; chivalrous. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "gallant" in a sentence
  • "He goes on from splendor to splendor, makes peculiarly his own the title "gallant," and on a March day in '63, shouting "Forward!" and smiling at troopers in a charge, he falls from his horse with a fatal wound."
  • "Mademoiselle Sophie appeared to be highly interested, and kept looking at me while her brother was speaking, and, although she did not join in the praises her mother lavished upon me for what she called my gallant conduct, evidently regarded me as a hero."
  • ""She didn't tell you to go that way," Max pointed out, in gallant defense of the demoiselle."