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Get Fancy With Genteel
The word genteel has some familiar English relatives, including gentle, gentrify, and gentility. All come from the Latin noun gens, used to refer to a group of related people. That word's plural, gentes, was used in Roman times to classify the people of the world, particularly non-Romans. Similarly, the English gentile refers to people who are not Jewish, or who don’t follow other specific religions. Many non-English words come from gens as well, including the Spanish gente, meaning “people.” To say gens has made its mark would be putting it gently.
Examples of genteel in a Sentence
Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 1 July 2025
His fiction is set all over the place—genteel backwaters like Miami, Hollywood, and Atlantic City, with excursions as far afield as the Dominican Republic, Italy, and Israel.
—Anthony Lane, New Yorker, 30 June 2025
Appropriately, the 31-year-old actress speaks with a genteel British accent—something that might surprise those who know her as Jinny St. George, the ambitious, new-money American girl in The Buccaneers, Apple TV+’s Gilded Age drama, which is currently in its second season.
—Paulina Prosnitz, Air Mail, 28 June 2025
As the three stories become more intertwined, the genteel politeness on display at the start of the film falls away, revealing an unsettling core.
—Lovia Gyarkye, HollywoodReporter, 20 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for genteel
Cite this Entry
“Genteel.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genteel. Accessed 10 Jul. 2025.
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genteel
adjective
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