gentry
Use Gentry in a sentence
tri noun
1.
wellborn and well-bred people.
2.
(in England) the class below the nobility.
3.
an upper or ruling class; aristocracy.
4.
those who are not members of the nobility but are entitled to a coat of arms, especially those owning large tracts of land.
5.
( used with a plural verb ) people, especially considered as a specific group, class, or kind: The polo crowd doesn't go there, but these hockey gentry do.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To gentry
00:10
Gentry
is always a great word to know.
So is ninnyhammer. Does it mean:
| a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question. |
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
gentry (ˈdʒɛntrɪ) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | persons of high birth or social standing; aristocracy |
| 2. | (Brit) persons just below the nobility in social rank |
| 3. | informal, derogatory often people, esp of a particular group or kind |
| [C14: from Old French genterie, from gentil | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
gentry
c.1300, from O.Fr. genterise, variant of gentilise "noble birth, gentleness," from gentil (see gentle). Gentrify "to renovate inner-city housing to middle-class standards" is a 1972 formation. In Anglo-Ir., gentry was a name for "the fairies" (1880), and gentle could mean "enchanted" (1823).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Example sentences
Nobility and gentry were allowed to ride the coaches, but not soldiers and peasants.
He discovered that he had invented a gentry almost as cynical as he was himself.
Their upbringing was a conventional one of landed gentry with insufficient means.
Westchester had been favored by the country gentry in colonial days and still cherished aristocratic traditions.
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