Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The condition of being gentle or of good birth; gentility.
  • noun The state or quality of being gentle in manners or disposition; mildness of temper; sweetness of disposition; kindness; tenderness.
  • noun Softness; freedom from roughness; mildness; delicacy: as, gentleness of touch.
  • noun Ease; gradualness; absence of abruptness or steepness: as, the gentleness of an elevation or a slope.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun The quality or state of being gentle, well-born, mild, benevolent, docile, etc.; gentility; softness of manners, disposition, etc.; mildness.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun The state of being gentle.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun the property possessed by a slope that is very gradual
  • noun acting in a manner that is gentle and mild and even-tempered

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

gentle +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • Perhaps the quadruple prepositional phrases, which delay the word gentleness from being connected with murder.

    Archive 2009-02-01 2009

  • Perhaps the quadruple prepositional phrases, which delay the word gentleness from being connected with murder.

    The murderer’s fancy style 2009

  • You must grow in gentleness and grace, in lightness and harmony.

    Katrinka: The Story of a Russian Child 1915

  • Their gentleness is so absolute, so sweet, that we recognise in it the infancy of that humanity which can remain oppresed by every form of yoke, by every injustice; and the child's love of knowledge is such that it surpasses every

    The Montessori Method Anne E. Montessori George 1912

  • Gentile, both school and society having the object of educating youth in gentleness towards their surroundings – that is, in respect for objects, buildings, monuments: a really important part of civil education, and one which interested me particularly on account of the Children's

    The Montessori Method Anne E. Montessori George 1912

  • The Prince overtook them with rapid strides, and knowing that the power of gentleness is more lasting than that of anger, he suppressed his wrath as he spoke to them, though withal he reproved them sternly.

    The Fairies and the Christmas Child 1912

  • But wish what condescension and gentleness is this done!

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • At such times she was very subdued in gentleness and in observance of Mr. Carlisle's pleasure; subdued to a meekness foreign to her natural mood, and which, generally, to tell the truth, was accompanied by a very unwonted sedateness of spirits also; something very like the sedateness of despair.

    The Old Helmet 1864

  • The soft north wind that had greeted the travellers in the early morning, was blowing yet, soft and warm; it flickered the leaves of the oaks and chestnuts with a lazy summer stir; white sails spotted the broad bosom of the Shatemuc and came down with summer gentleness from the upper reaches of the river.

    The Hills of the Shatemuc 1856

  • Gray-haired, with a sculpted face and an authoritative, courtly Fred Thompson voice, he has the bearing of an elder statesman, tempered by a certain gentleness.

    Lifting the Bamboo Curtain 2008

Comments

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  • Do not think me gentle

    because I speak in praise

    of gentleness, or elegant

    because I honor the grace

    that keeps this world. I am

    a man crude as any,

    gross of speech, intolerant,

    stubborn, angry, full

    of fits and furies. That I

    may have spoken well

    at times, is not natural.

    A wonder is what it is.

    January 29, 2007