different between serene vs gentle

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /s???i?n/
• (US) IPA^(key): /s???in/
• Rhymes: -i?n

Etymology 1

From Middle English, borrowed from Latin ser?nus (“clear, cloudless, untroubled”).

Adjective

serene (comparative more serene or serener, superlative most serene or serenest)

1. Peaceful, calm, unruffled.
2. Without worry or anxiety; unaffected by disturbance.
3. (archaic) fair and unclouded (as of the sky); clear; unobscured.
   • 1751, Thomas Gray, Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard

     Full many a gem of purest ray serene / The dark unfathom'd caves of ocean bear.
4. Used as part of certain titles, originally to indicate sovereignty or independence.

Related terms

• all serene
• serenity

Translations

Verb

serene (third-person singular simple present serenes, present participle serening, simple past and past participle serened)

1. (transitive) To make serene.

Noun

serene (plural serenes)

1. (poetic) Serenity; clearness; calmness.
   • 1801, Robert Southey, Thalaba the Destroyer

     the serene of heaven

   • 1742, Edward Young, Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality

     To their master is denied / To share their sweet serene.

2. Evening air; night chill.

   • Some serene blast me.

Etymology 2

Old French serein (“evening”), Vulgar Latin *ser?num (from substantive use of s?rum, neuter of s?rus (“late”)) + -?nus suffix.

Noun

serene (plural serenes)

1. A fine rain from a cloudless sky after sunset.

Synonyms

• serein

References

• Oxford English Dictionary. serein n. 1.

Anagrams

• reseen, resene

Dutch

Pronunciation

Adjective

serene

1. Inflected form of sereen

Esperanto

Etymology

serena +? -e

Adverb

serene

1. calmly, serenely

Italian

Adjective

serene

1. feminine plural of sereno

Latin

Etymology 1

From ser?nus +? -?.

Adverb

ser?n? (comparative ser?nius, superlative ser?nissim?)

1. clearly, brightly

Etymology 2

Adjective

ser?ne

1. vocative masculine singular of ser?nus

References

• serene in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Portuguese

Verb

serene

1. first-person singular (eu) present subjunctive of serenar
2. third-person singular (ele and ela, also used with você and others) present subjunctive of serenar
3. third-person singular (você) affirmative imperative of serenar
4. third-person singular (você) negative imperative of serenar

Spanish

Verb

serene

1. Formal second-person singular (usted) imperative form of serenar.
2. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of serenar.
3. Formal second-person singular (usted) present subjunctive form of serenar.
4. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of serenar.

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.