GENTLENESS

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Acting in a manner that is gentle and mild and even-tempered

Example:

even in the pulpit there are moments when mildness of manner is not enough

Synonyms:

gentleness; mildness; softness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("gentleness" is a kind of...):

manner; personal manner (a way of acting or behaving)

Derivation:

gentle (having little impact)

gentle (having or showing a kindly or tender nature)

gentle (quiet and soothing)

gentle (soft and mild; not harsh or stern or severe)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The property possessed by a slope that is very gradual

Synonyms:

gentleness; gradualness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("gentleness" is a kind of...):

gradient; slope (the property possessed by a line or surface that departs from the horizontal)

Derivation:

gentle (marked by moderate steepness)

Credits

Context examples:

What could more delightfully prove that the warmth of her heart was equal to its gentleness?

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Harriet was not insensible of manner; she had voluntarily noticed her father's gentleness with admiration as well as wonder.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Their gentleness, their genuine attention to other people, and their manly unstudied simplicity is much more accordant with her real disposition, than the liveliness—often artificial, and often ill-timed of the other.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

She was fond of him, too, for he had a remarkable gentleness and courtesy in his dealings with women.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He was starving for sympathy, which, with him, meant intelligent understanding; and he had yet to learn that Ruth's sympathy was largely sentimental and tactful, and that it proceeded from gentleness of nature rather than from understanding of the objects of her sympathy.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

My gentleness and good behaviour had gained so far on the emperor and his court, and indeed upon the army and people in general, that I began to conceive hopes of getting my liberty in a short time.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Yet my lips were sealed, and it was only last night that I could tell him that it was his mother whom he had brought back by his gentleness and his patience into the sweetness of life.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A laugh went up at my appearance,—a laugh that was not lessened or softened by the dead man stretched and grinning on the deck before us; a laugh that was as rough and harsh and frank as the sea itself; that arose out of coarse feelings and blunted sensibilities, from natures that knew neither courtesy nor gentleness.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

She came, but with no sympathy or gentleness.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I felt emotions of gentleness and pleasure, that had long appeared dead, revive within me.