Meaning

4 senses

  1. (intransitive)To become gentle.

  2. (transitive)To break; to tame; to domesticate.

  3. (transitive)To soothe; to calm; to make gentle.

  4. (obsolete, transitive)To ennoble.

More definitions
  • stroke soothingly
  • give a title to someone; make someone a member of the nobility
  • cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of

Examples

263 sentences

  1. Tom is gentle.

    Том ніжний. — deniko

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  2. There's no need to be gentle.

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  3. Tom gave Mary a gentle push.

    ruТом мягко толкнул Мэри. — sharptoothed

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  4. Cookie was a very gentle dog.

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  5. The doctor is gentle with his patients.

    ruВрач внимателен к своим пациентам. — Inego

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Origin

From Middle English gentil (“courteous, noble”), from Old French gentil (“high-born, noble

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.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

gentles, gentling, gentled, gentled
Base formgentle · to gentle
3rd person singulargentles
Present participlegentling
Past simplegentled
Past participlegentled

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theygentle
he, she, itgentles

Past simpleLesson

all personsgentled

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave gentled
he, she, ithas gentled

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill gentle

Synonyms

10 synonyms
Close in meaning

Lessons for this word

3 lessons

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
gentgentiangentilegentlemanB1gentlemanlygentleness
gentle — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto