jen.ˈtiləd.ē, -ətē, -i noun
( -es )
Etymology: Middle English gentilete, from Middle French gentileté, from Latin gentilitat-, gentilitas state or condition of belonging to the same clan or family, from gentilis of the same clan or family + -itat-, -itas -ity — more at gentle
1.
a. : the condition of belonging to the gentry or to a class ranking above the commonalty : gentle birth or status
when her family lost its money … she lost her gentility and was allowed to work — Virginia Woolf
b. : the members of the upper class gentlefolk , gentry
a ball given by the governor for the gentility — Esther Forbes
the social strata midway between the lower gentility and the upper class of poor white — Ellen Glasgow
recruit its nobility and gentility from loyal servants of … middle-class origin — J.W.Saunders
c. : the rank or heraldic status of a gentleman
the purchase of gentility from the heralds was resented by the county gentry — F.P.Bornard
2.
a.
(1) : niceness, refinement, or decorum of conduct or manner : civility , polish , elegance , politeness
the gentility and sweet tolerance of liberal methods of government — S.L.A.Marshall
combined … natural gentility and refinement of manner — G.R.Stewart
a French trading post … with morals and manners that did not err on the side of gentility — American Guide Series: Michigan
(2) : extreme or excessive regard for conventional morality or ideals : the display of false delicacy, prudery, affectation, or excessive refinement especially in cultural attitudes or activity
instrumental in … the freeing of American letters from the bonds of gentility — Alexander Klein
an impassioned diatribe against gentility in American literature — Mark Schorer
the pervading malady of educated folk in late-nineteenth-century America — gentility — F.L.Allen
b.
(1) : superior social status or prestige evidenced by manners, possessions, mode of life, or associations
an academy … famous for its gentility — Nathaniel Burt
the hat, like the sandals … were marks of gentility — Elizabeth Janeway
the characteristic American attempt to maintain gentility by means of a detached house — G.R.Stewart
(2) : the maintenance of the air, forms, or pretense of superior or middle-class social status especially in the face of decayed elegance or prosperity
a shabby gentility displayed against a … dreary background — David Daiches
look of respectable but threadbare gentility — New York Times