MEANING
Displaying the manners or social character associated with polite, respectable society.
Use it for
Polite social codes; faded respectability; class performanceLet manners and expectations, not income alone, define the place.
Words that belong together
- genteel neighborhood
- genteel atmosphere
- genteel resort
On the page
The genteel resort required jackets at dinner even when few guests could afford them.
In this genteel neighborhood, complaints arrived as carefully worded notes.
Behind its genteel atmosphere, the club guarded a rigid hierarchy.
Nearby words
Opposite meanings
Related words
Word forms
- Base
- genteel
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Usage notes
Primary category: setting. May be approving, nostalgic, or ironic about affected refinement. A genteel neighborhood is not necessarily wealthy; gentility can persist amid reduced means. Comparative: more genteel; superlative: most genteel.
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