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Definition of "gentle" []

  • Considerate or kindly in disposition; amiable and tender. (adjective)
  • Not harsh or severe; mild and soft: a gentle scolding; a gentle tapping at the window. (adjective)
  • Easily managed or handled; docile: a gentle horse. (adjective)
  • Not steep or sudden; gradual: a gentle incline. (adjective)
  • Of good family; wellborn: a child of gentle birth. (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 "gentle" in a sentence
  • "And as, in this battle of thoughts, those which spoke for her won the victory, it seemed to me becoming to address her, and I said this sonnet, which begins, 'A gentle thought '; and I called it _gentle_ because I was speaking to a gentle lady, -- but otherwise it was most vile."
  • ""In this sense the true lover need not be a _gentleman_ but he must be a _gentle man_, loving not by genteel code of caste but by gentle code of character.""
  • "III. iv.76 (474,6) Ere human statute purg'd the gentle weal] The _gentle weal_, is, the _peaceable community_, the state made quiet and safe by"