gentle
soft and mild; not harsh or stern or severe
How often you will meet it
Rank 977 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 18,763 times across 155,370 chapters — 0.009% of every word in the library.
It belongs to the first 1,000 words, the band worth learning before any other.
What it means
adjective
- soft and mild; not harsh or stern or severe also: soft a gentle reprimanda vein of gentle irony
- having or showing a kindly or tender nature the gentle touch of her handher gentle manner was comforting
- quiet and soothing a gentle voicea gentle nocturne
- belonging to or characteristic of the nobility or aristocracy also: aristocratic, aristocratical, blue, blue-blooded, patrician an aristocratic familyaristocratic Bostonians
- easily handled or managed also: docile a gentle old horse, docile and obedient
- having little impact also: easy, soft an easy pat on the shouldergentle rain
verb
- cause to be more favorably inclined; gain the good will of also: pacify, lenify, conciliate, assuage, appease, mollify She managed to mollify the angry customer
gentle in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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John Brown, aged thirty-one, good, gentle, bashful, timid, lived in a quiet village in Missouri.
Following the Equator — Part 1 · Mark Twain · Chapter 1
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Here every one of gentle blood has been more or less mixed up in these civil broils.
A Knight of the White Cross · G. A. (George Alfred) Henty · Chapter 1
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Mrs. Wiggs's hands were rough and knotted, but love taught them to be gentle as she smoothed his hot head.
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch · Alice Caldwell Hegan Rice · Chapter 1
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The curiously gentle smile had never left the bearded lips, but in his voice a slight proud change was perceptible.
The Heart of the Hills · John, Jr. Fox · Chapter 1
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She remembered them now--the gentle day-nurse and the gentle night-nurse, who had moved soft-footedly about her bed, performing soothing little offices.
Gloria and Treeless Street · Annie Hamilton Donnell · Chapter 1