Genteel
adjective
Polite, refined, or respectable, often in an affected or ostentatious way.
She comes from a very genteel family.
Often appears as...
- genteel manner
- genteel upbringing
adjective
Of or relating to the upper or middle class.
What was once a genteel seaside town has now become a bustling tourist spot.
Often appears as...
- genteel society
- genteel suburb
adjective
Having an attractive or well-proportioned appearance.
She has a genteel appearance, modest and tasteful.
Often appears as...
- genteel grace
- genteel elegance
adjective
Polite, refined, or respectable, often in an affected or ostentatious way.
She comes from a very genteel family.
Often appears as...
- genteel manner
- genteel upbringing
adjective
Of or relating to the upper or middle class.
What was once a genteel seaside town has now become a bustling tourist spot.
Often appears as...
- genteel society
- genteel suburb
adjective
Having an attractive or well-proportioned appearance.
She has a genteel appearance, modest and tasteful.
Often appears as...
- genteel grace
- genteel elegance
Definition 1 of 3
Pro Tip 1/3Ostentatious Tone
Used to imply that someone might be showing off their polite behavior in a superficial way.
His genteel compliments felt a bit too rehearsed.
Pro Tip 2/3Mockery Avoidance
Be cautious; using 'genteel' could suggest insincerity when describing someone too eagerly polite.
Her genteel gestures at the gala didn't fool anyone.
Pro Tip 3/3Historical Context
Often used to describe behaviors fitting the 18th or 19th-century polite society expectations.
He acted in a genteel manner, as if from a Jane Austen novel.
Pro Tip 1/3Ostentatious Tone
Used to imply that someone might be showing off their polite behavior in a superficial way.
His genteel compliments felt a bit too rehearsed.
Pro Tip 2/3Mockery Avoidance
Be cautious; using 'genteel' could suggest insincerity when describing someone too eagerly polite.
Her genteel gestures at the gala didn't fool anyone.
Pro Tip 3/3Historical Context
Often used to describe behaviors fitting the 18th or 19th-century polite society expectations.
He acted in a genteel manner, as if from a Jane Austen novel.
Pro Tip 1/3Ostentatious Tone
Used to imply that someone might be showing off their polite behavior in a superficial way.
His genteel compliments felt a bit too rehearsed.
Pro Tip 2/3Mockery Avoidance
Be cautious; using 'genteel' could suggest insincerity when describing someone too eagerly polite.
Her genteel gestures at the gala didn't fool anyone.
Pro Tip 3/3Historical Context
Often used to describe behaviors fitting the 18th or 19th-century polite society expectations.
He acted in a genteel manner, as if from a Jane Austen novel.
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Quote examples
Margaret Cavendish
English Writer
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.
Quote examples
Soni Razdan
British Actress
Being half Kashmiri, it's always special for me to shoot in the valley and to be there with the locals. They are all very warm people who are very hospitable and genteel and always welcome everyone with an open heart.
Quote examples
Rhea Perlman
American Actress
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.
Quote examples
Amy Vanderbilt
American Author
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.
Quote examples
Ross Douthat
American Author
Awards shows are being pushed to shed their genteel limousine liberalism and embrace the race-gender-sexual identity agenda in full.
Quote examples
Max Boot
American Author
The genteel conservatism of 'Downton Abbey' is not a rigid, extremist ideology whose adherents are bent on power at all costs.
Quote examples
Friedrich Nietzsche
German Philosopher
Genteel women suppose that those things do not really exist about which it is impossible to talk in polite company.
Quote examples
Tony Harrison
English Poet
I hate the anglicanisation of culture, the idea that culture is genteel. It's not genteel.
Quote examples
Rosemary Mahoney
American Writer
Writing is not a genteel profession; it's quite nasty and tough and kind of dirty.
Quote examples
Thomas Hardy
English Novelist
Dialect words are those terrible marks of the beast to the truly genteel.
Quote examples
Margaret Cavendish
English Writer
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.
Quote examples
Soni Razdan
British Actress
Being half Kashmiri, it's always special for me to shoot in the valley and to be there with the locals. They are all very warm people who are very hospitable and genteel and always welcome everyone with an open heart.
Quote examples
Rhea Perlman
American Actress
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.
Quote examples
Amy Vanderbilt
American Author
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.
Quote examples
Ross Douthat
American Author
Awards shows are being pushed to shed their genteel limousine liberalism and embrace the race-gender-sexual identity agenda in full.
Quote examples
Max Boot
American Author
The genteel conservatism of 'Downton Abbey' is not a rigid, extremist ideology whose adherents are bent on power at all costs.
Quote examples
Friedrich Nietzsche
German Philosopher
Genteel women suppose that those things do not really exist about which it is impossible to talk in polite company.
Quote examples
Tony Harrison
English Poet
I hate the anglicanisation of culture, the idea that culture is genteel. It's not genteel.
Quote examples
Rosemary Mahoney
American Writer
Writing is not a genteel profession; it's quite nasty and tough and kind of dirty.
Quote examples
Thomas Hardy
English Novelist
Dialect words are those terrible marks of the beast to the truly genteel.
Example 1 of 10
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