genteel

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gen·teel

(jĕn-tēl′)

adj.

1. Refined or polite, often in an affected way: "Who better to domesticate him than the most genteel woman in the world? What better to housebreak him than ... a delicate actress with beautiful diction for his wife?" (Philip Roth). See Synonyms at polite.

2. Typical or characteristic of the upper class: "His family background was somewhat less genteel than his Brahmin name and Harvard pedigree might suggest" (Scot French).

3. Elegantly stylish or fashionable: genteel manners and appearance.

[French gentil, from Old French; see gentle.]

gen·teel′ly adv.

gen·teel′ness n.

genteel

(dʒɛnˈtiːl)

adj

1. affectedly proper or refined; excessively polite

2. respectable, polite, and well-bred: a genteel old lady.

3. appropriate to polite or fashionable society: genteel behaviour.

[C16: from French gentil well-born; see gentle]

genˈteelly adv

genˈteelness n

gen•teel

(dʒɛnˈtil)

adj.

1. belonging or suited to polite society.

2. well-bred; polite; elegant.

3. affectedly polite or delicate.

[1590–1600; < Middle French gentil; see gentle]

gen•teel′ly, adv.

gen•teel′ness, n.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Adj.

genteel - marked by refinement in taste and manners; "cultivated speech"; "cultured Bostonians"; "cultured tastes"; "a genteel old lady"; "polite society"

cultured, polite, civilised, civilized, cultivated

refined - (used of persons and their behavior) cultivated and genteel; "she was delicate and refined and unused to hardship"; "refined people with refined taste"

genteel

adjective refined, cultured, mannerly, elegant, formal, gentlemanly, respectable, polite, cultivated, courteous, courtly, well-bred, ladylike, well-mannered two maiden ladies with genteel manners and voices
rude, unaffected, unrefined, impolite, inelegant, plebeian, discourteous, unpolished, uncultured, ill-bred, unmannerly, low-bred

genteel

adjective

1. Characterized by good manners:

civil, courteous, mannerly, polite, well-bred, well-mannered.

2. Marked by excessive concern for propriety and good form:

bluenosed, old-maidish, precise, priggish, prim, prissy, proper, prudish, puritanical, strait-laced, stuffy, Victorian.

Idiom: prim and proper.

Translations

أنيق جِدّا

přepjatýuhlazený

fornem

vornehm

góîborgaralegur; tilgerîarlegur

manieroso raffinatezza

gerai išauklėtasgeros manierosgerų manierų

pārsmalcināts

fisefin tertefin

aşırı kibarçıtkırıldım

彬彬有礼的

genteel

[dʒenˈtiːl] ADJ

1. (= middle-class) [person] → elegante, refinado; [manners] → refinado, fino; [atmosphere] → elegante
a genteel resort on the south coast → un elegante centro turístico de la costa del sur
to live in genteel poverty → vivir modestamente pero con dignidad

2. (pej) (= affected) → afectado

genteel

[dʒɛnˈtiːl] adj

[person] → distingué(e)

[place] → raffiné(e)

genteel

adj

(= refined) person, institution, atmosphere, place → vornehm; family, manners → vornehm, fein; to live in genteel poverty → arm, aber vornehm leben ? shabby

(= overpolite) → geziert; (= euphemistic) term, language → beschönigend

n the genteel pl (form) → die Vornehmen pl

genteel

[dʒɛnˈtiːl] adj (affectedly polite) → affettato/a; (old) (refined) → distinto/a, raffinato/a

genteel

(dʒənˈtiːl) adjective

acting, talking etc with a very great (often too great) attention to the rules of polite behaviour. She was laughed at for being too genteel.

genˈteelly adverb

genˈteelness noun

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References in classic literature ?

He ought never to have made the concession, he said, but the very genteel lady had so passionately prayed him for the accommodation of that room to dine in, only for a little half-hour, that he had been vanquished.

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I do not believe that there was in that genteel Bohemia an intensive culture of chastity, but I do not remember so crude a promiscuity as seems to be practised in the present day.

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Ye-es," repeated Miss Flite in her most genteel accents, "my executor, administrator, and assign.

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Mrs Kenwigs, too, was quite a lady in her manners, and of a very genteel family, having an uncle who collected a water-rate; besides which distinction, the two eldest of her little girls went twice a week to a dancing school in the neighbourhood, and had flaxen hair, tied with blue ribbons, hanging in luxuriant pigtails down their backs; and wore little white trousers with frills round the ankles--for all of which reasons, and many more equally valid but too numerous to mention, Mrs Kenwigs was considered a very desirable person to know, and was the constant theme of all the gossips in the street, and even three or four doors round the corner at both ends.

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It is very probable, too, that Katerina Ivanovna longed on this occasion, at the moment when she seemed to be abandoned by everyone, to show those "wretched contemptible lodgers" that she knew "how to do things, how to entertain" and that she had been brought up "in a genteel, she might almost say aristocratic colonel's family" and had not been meant for sweeping floors and washing the children's rags at night.

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So am I, my boy; but he has to thank you more than me; we must now be looking out for a quiet, genteel place for him, where he will be valued.

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As soon as divine service was over, the Thorpes and Allens eagerly joined each other; and after staying long enough in the pump-room to discover that the crowd was insupportable, and that there was not a genteel face to be seen, which everybody discovers every Sunday throughout the season, they hastened away to the Crescent, to breathe the fresh air of better company.

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The new soldiers were now produced before the officer, who having examined the six-feet man, he being first produced, came next to survey Jones: at the first sight of whom, the lieutenant could not help showing some surprize; for besides that he was very well dressed, and was naturally genteel, he had a remarkable air of dignity in his look, which is rarely seen among the vulgar, and is indeed not inseparably annexed to the features of their superiors.

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After some consideration, he went into business as an Informer, in which calling he realises a genteel subsistence.

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But a most genteel and elegant little dog infinitely superior company to Cousin Tabitha Twitchit.

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It is true he had spent the difference that morning on an eye-glass that he never used, or when he did it was only to obscure his vision; but the money was not lost, as it aided in persuading the world he was a colonel and was afflicted with that genteel defect, an imperfect vision.

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The pupils cared little for a companion who had no grand stories to tell about home; no friends to come with post-horses, and be received in all humility, with cake and wine, by the governess; no deferential servant to attend and bear her home for the holidays; nothing genteel to talk about, and nothing to display.