different between gentle vs individual

English

Etymology

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 and genteel.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?d??ntl?/
• (General American) enPR: j?n?tl, IPA^(key): /?d??ntl?/, [?d??????l?]
• Hyphenation: gen?tle

Adjective

gentle (comparative gentler or more gentle, superlative gentlest or most gentle)

1. Tender and amiable; of a considerate or kindly disposition.

2. Soft and mild rather than hard or severe.

3. Docile and easily managed.

   a gentle horse

4. Gradual rather than steep or sudden.

5. Polite and respectful rather than rude.

6. (archaic) Well-born; of a good family or respectable birth, though not noble.
   • 1823, Walter Scott, Peveril of the Peak

     "You are of gentle blood," she said […]

   • 1893-1897, Charles Kendal Adams (editor), Johnsons Universal Encyclopedia

     British society is divided into nobility, gentry, and yeomanry, and families are either noble, gentle, or simple.

Synonyms

• (polite): friendly, kind, polite, respectful

Antonyms

• (polite): rude

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

gentle (third-person singular simple present gentles, present participle gentling, simple past and past participle gentled)

1. (intransitive) to become gentle
   • 2013, Kathryn L.M. Reynolds, Garland Roses, Kathryn L.M. Reynolds (?ISBN), page 226

     “She's experienced a horrific and nasty scare and is in a state of shock, but otherwise she's relatively okay.” Conrad replied, his tone at first grim (as he recalled what he'd seen in the family room) and then it gentled to a more doctorial tone as he directed his next comments to his patient.

2. (transitive, obsolete) to ennoble
   • c. 1599, Henry V, by Shakespeare, Act IV Scene III

     […] For he to-day that sheds his blood with me / Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, / This day shall gentle his condition […]

3. (transitive, animal husbandry) to break; to tame; to domesticate
   • 2008, Frank Leslie, The Killing Breed, Penguin (?ISBN)

     Yakima could have tried to catch him, gentle him as Wolf had been gentled, but having two stallions in his cavvy would lead to a different kind of trouble.

4. (transitive) To soothe; to calm; to make gentle.
   • 1996, William C. Loring, An American Romantic-realist Abroad: Templeton Strong and His Music, Scarecrow Press (?ISBN), page 201

     A hornist, his playing gentled by perspective, is out of sight within the woods, but his notes are heard through or over the murmuring mix of bird song and breeze in leaves.

Noun

gentle (plural gentles)

1. (archaic) A person of high birth.
   • 2012, Lizzie Stark, Leaving Mundania: Inside the Transformative World of Live Action Role-Playing Games, Chicago Review Press (?ISBN), page 43:

     While actual medieval societies were full of lots of peasants and a few rich and noble gentles, SCA personas tend to be nobles rather than commoners.

2. (fishing) A maggot used as bait by anglers.
3. A trained falcon, or falcon-gentil.

English

Alternative forms

• individuall (obsolete)

Etymology

From Medieval Latin ind?vidu?lis, from Latin ind?viduum (“an indivisible thing”), neuter of ind?viduus (“indivisible, undivided”), from in + d?viduus (“divisible”), from d?vid? (“divide”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /??nd??v?d??u.?l/, /??nd??v?d??w?l/, /??nd??v?d???l/, /??nd??-/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /??nd??v?d????l/, /??nd??v?d???l/, /??nd??-/
• (General New Zealand) IPA^(key): /??nd??v?d???.?l/, /??nd??v?d???l/

Noun

individual (plural individuals)

1. A person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people.

2. (law) A single physical human being as a legal subject, as opposed to a legal person such as a corporation.
   • 1982, Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms:

     Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination […].

3. An object, be it a thing or an agent, as contrasted to a class.
4. (statistics) An element belonging to a population.

Translations

Adjective

individual (comparative more individual, superlative most individual)

1. Relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.

2. Intended for a single person as opposed to more than one person.

3. Not divisible without losing its identity.

Synonyms

• (relating to a single person or thing): single, self-standing
• (intended for a single person or thing): personal, single

Antonyms

• (relating to a single person or thing): collective
• (intended for a single person or thing): group, joint, shared

Related terms

Translations

Further reading

• individual in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• individual in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• "individual" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 161.

Catalan

Noun

individual (masculine and feminine plural individuals)

1. individual

Derived terms

• individualisme
• individualista
• individualitzar
• individualment

Related terms

• individu
• individualitat

Further reading

• “individual” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.

Galician

Adjective

individual m or f (plural individuais)

1. individual

Derived terms

• individualismo
• individualista
• individualizar
• individualmente

Related terms

• individuo
• individualidade

Further reading

• “individual” in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega, Royal Galician Academy.

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /?.d??i.vi.du.?aw/

Adjective

individual m or f (plural individuais, comparable)

1. individual

Derived terms

• individualismo
• individualista
• individualmente

Further reading

• “individual” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Romanian

Etymology

From French individuel

Adjective

individual m or n (feminine singular individual?, masculine plural individuali, feminine and neuter plural individuale)

1. individual

Declension

Related terms

• individualism
• individualist
• individualitate

Spanish

Adjective

individual (plural individuales)

1. individual
2. case-by-case
3. one-on-one (e.g., relationship or bond)
4. one-man (e.g., a one-man show)
5. personal, individualized

Derived terms

• individualismo
• individualista
• individualizar
• individualmente
• persecución individual

Related terms

• individuo
• individualidad

Noun

individual m (plural individuales)

1. place mat

Further reading

• “individual” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.