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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

gentle.

Tender and amiable; of a considerate or kindly disposition.

6 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

adj/ˈd͡ʒɛn.tl̩/Received-Pronunciation/ˈd͡ʒɛn.tl̩/General-American[ˈd͡ʒɛ̃.ɾ̃l̩]General-American
  1. Tender and amiable; of a considerate or kindly disposition.

    Stuart is a gentle man; he would never hurt you.
  2. Soft and mild rather than hard or severe.

    I felt something touch my shoulder; it was gentle and a little slimy.
  3. Docile and easily managed.

    We had a gentle swim in the lake.
    a gentle horse
  4. Gradual rather than steep or sudden.

    The walks in this area have a gentle incline.
  5. Polite and respectful rather than rude.

    He gave me a gentle reminder that we had to hurry up.
  6. Well-born; of a good family or respectable birth, though not noble.

    archaic
Where this word comes from

From Middle English gentil (“courteous, noble”), from Old French gentil (“high-born, noble”), from Latin gentilis (“of the same family or clan”), from gens (“[Roman] clan”). Doublet of gentile, genteel, and jaunty.

verb/ˈd͡ʒɛn.tl̩/Received-Pronunciation/ˈd͡ʒɛn.tl̩/General-American[ˈd͡ʒɛ̃.ɾ̃l̩]General-American
  1. To become gentle.

    intransitive
  2. To ennoble.

    obsolete · transitive
  3. To break; to tame; to domesticate.

    transitive
  4. To soothe; to calm; to make gentle.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

From Middle English gentil (“courteous, noble”), from Old French gentil (“high-born, noble”), from Latin gentilis (“of the same family or clan”), from gens (“[Roman] clan”). Doublet of gentile, genteel, and jaunty.

noun/ˈd͡ʒɛn.tl̩/Received-Pronunciation/ˈd͡ʒɛn.tl̩/General-American[ˈd͡ʒɛ̃.ɾ̃l̩]General-American
  1. A person of high birth.

    archaic
  2. A maggot used as bait by anglers.

  3. A trained falcon, or falcon-gentil.

Where this word comes from

From Middle English gentil (“courteous, noble”), from Old French gentil (“high-born, noble”), from Latin gentilis (“of the same family or clan”), from gens (“[Roman] clan”). Doublet of gentile, genteel, and jaunty.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.