different between gentle vs lenient
gentle
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)
- Tender and amiable; of a considerate or kindly disposition.
- Soft and mild rather than hard or severe.
- Docile and easily managed.
- a gentle horse
- Gradual rather than steep or sudden.
- Polite and respectful rather than rude.
- (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.
- 1823, Walter Scott, Peveril of the Peak
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)
- (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.
- 2013, Kathryn L.M. Reynolds, Garland Roses, Kathryn L.M. Reynolds (?ISBN), page 226
- (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 […]
- c. 1599, Henry V, by Shakespeare, Act IV Scene III
- (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.
- 2008, Frank Leslie, The Killing Breed, Penguin (?ISBN)
- (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.
- 1996, William C. Loring, An American Romantic-realist Abroad: Templeton Strong and His Music, Scarecrow Press (?ISBN), page 201
Noun
gentle (plural gentles)
- (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.
- 2012, Lizzie Stark, Leaving Mundania: Inside the Transformative World of Live Action Role-Playing Games, Chicago Review Press (?ISBN), page 43:
- (fishing) A maggot used as bait by anglers.
- A trained falcon, or falcon-gentil.
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lenient
English
Etymology
From Middle French lénient, from Latin l?niens, present participle of l?n?re (“to soften, soothe”), from l?nis (“soft”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /?li?ni.?nt/
Adjective
lenient (comparative more lenient, superlative most lenient)
- Lax; not strict; tolerant of dissent or deviation
- The standard is fairly lenient, so use your discretion.
- 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIII
- But in other points, as well as this, I was growing very lenient to my master; I was forgetting all his faults, for which I had once kept a sharp look-out. It had formerly been my endeavour to study all sides of his character; to take the bad with the good; and from the just weighing of both, to form an equitable judgment. Now I saw no bad.
Synonyms
- lax, permissive
Antonyms
- strict
- severe
- stringent
- unlenient
Related terms
- lenience
- leniency
- lenity
Derived terms
- leniently
- unlenient
Translations
Noun
lenient (plural lenients)
- (medicine) A lenitive; an emollient.
Further reading
- lenient in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- lenient in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- lenient at OneLook Dictionary Search
Latin
Verb
l?nient
- third-person plural future active indicative of l?ni?
lenient From the web:
- what lenient means
- what lenient in tagalog
- what's lenient in german
- lenient what does this mean
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