Sekirov Dictionary

gentle

/ˈd͡ʒɛn.tl̩/

adjective 6
verb 4
noun 3
forms 7
phrases 3

adjective6

•
warm and caring toward others, and careful not to cause them pain or worry
- Stuart is a gentle man; he would never hurt you.
•
Soft and mild rather than hard or severe.
- I felt something touch my shoulder; it was gentle and a little slimy.
•
Polite and respectful rather than rude.
- He gave me a gentle reminder that we had to hurry up.
•
Gradual rather than steep or sudden.
- The walks in this area have a gentle incline.
•
Docile and easily managed.
- We had a gentle swim in the lake.
•
(no longer used) Well-born; of a good family or respectable birth, though not noble.
- "You are of gentle blood," she said […] — 1822

verb4

•
To become gentle.
- A September morning brought a stiff northeast wind that blew at 30 miles an hour and kept small craft out of the sound. But by afternoon the wind gentled and the sound smoothed. — 1987
•
To break; to tame; to domesticate.
- Yakima could have tried to catch him, gentle him as Wolf had been gentled, but having two stallions in his cavvy would lead to a different kind of trouble. — 2008
•
To soothe; to calm; to make gentle.
- A hornist, his playing gentled by perspective, is out of sight within the woods, but his notes are heard through or over the murmuring mix of bird song and breeze in leaves. — 1996
•
(no longer used) To ennoble.
- […] For he to-day that sheds his blood with me / Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, / This day shall gentle his condition […] — 1590

noun3

•
A maggot used as bait by anglers.
- Pooh! the whole thing is as alive and wrigging as an angler's box of gentles — 1846
A trained falcon, or falcon-gentil.
•
(no longer used) A person of high birth.
- Gentles, methinks you frown. — 1590

forms

gentled · gentling · gentles · gentler · more gentle · gentlest · most gentle

Phrases with gentle

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