Genteel
adj ·Moderate ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Affectedly proper or refined; somewhat prudish refinement; excessively polite.
"Genteel America was handicapped by meagerness of soul, thinness of temper, paucity of talent."
- 2 Polite and well-mannered.
"Indeed I would advise every ſingle lady, if poſſible, to attend her inamorato, pretty frequently at the card table; and however genteel and agreeable his behaviour should be to herſelf, if he is haſty or pettiſh with any one else in company, she may depend on the ſame fate when once the knot is tied."
- 3 Stylish or elegant.
- 4 Aristocratic.
- 1 marked by refinement in taste and manners wordnet
Antonyms
All antonymsExample
More examples"He was a man of excellent birth and education, who had squandered a fortune upon the turf, and who lived now by doing a little quiet and genteel book-making in the sporting clubs of London."
Etymology
Borrowed from French gentil (“gentile”), from Latin gentīlis (“of or belonging to the same people or nation”), from gēns (“clan; tribe; people, family”) + adjective suffix -īlis (“-ile”). Doublet of gentle, gentile, and jaunty. See also gens, gender, genus, and generation.
Related phrases
More for "genteel"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.