gentlewoman
- noun
- /ˈdʒɛntəlˌwʊmən/
- Archaic
- In past centuries, a gentlewoman was expected to display a high level of grace and etiquette in society.
- gentlewoman is recognized
- the gentlewoman's time
Being a woman is a matter of age, being a gentlewoman is a matter of choice.
- Being a woman is a matter of age, being a gentlewoman is a matter of choice.
Examples
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I hope I did not forget the dignity a gentlewoman should preserve under the most trying of circumstances, but I fancy that my tones, while low, were concentrated, and that the little American I used was "frequent and fluent and free," for the man turned pale and wavered.
Blog text (22) -
But with a respectable gentlewoman to put you forward, you will not be ignored.
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Being a woman is a matter of age, being a gentlewoman is a matter of choice.
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''Choose a gentlewoman for my sake,'' ''and for your own, let her be an active, useful sort of person, not brought up too high.''
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So the gentlewoman in me decides to let her off the hook.
Fiction book (2000) -
She turned thirty-five on New Year's Day, the day we married, and she was a beauty, a real gentlewoman, I can tell you.
Fiction book (1994) -
The chair gratefully recognizes the gentlewoman from Illinois.
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Mrs. Cross, a gentlewoman in straitened circumstances, will come with me as my companion, to pack and unpack.
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It was written by an English gentlewoman of the late nineteenth century and described her walks through the English countryside and woods.
Fiction book (1998) -
Transferring the reins to her left hand, Mel touched the brim of her cap with a demure nod and smiled with all the refinement of a gentlewoman off to a fox hunt.
Fiction book (1991)
Synonyms
A woman who has good manners and looks elegant
A polite way to address a woman in a position of authority
A woman given an official title for important public service
A woman from a high social class who has a title
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word gentlewoman joins gentle and woman. Gentle once meant 'well-born' or 'noble', not just 'kind', so a gentlewoman was a woman of high social standing and refinement.