genteel

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   Affectedly proper or refined; somewhat prudish refinement; excessively polite.

   Genteel America was handicapped by meagerness of soul, thinness of temper, paucity of talent.

Borrowed from French gentil (“gentile”), from Latin gentīlis (“of or belonging to the same people or nation”), from gēns (“clan; tribe; people, family”) + adjective suffix -īlis (“-ile”). Doublet of gentle, gentile, and jaunty. See also gens, gender, genus, and generation.

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