Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Gently |
GentlyAdverb1. In a gradual manner; "a gently sloping terrain". 2. In a gentle manner; "he talked gently to the injured animal". 3. With little weight or force; "she kissed him lightly on the forehead". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "gently" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1120. (references) |
Synonyms: GentlySynonyms: lightly (adv), mildly (adv), softly (adv). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Inactivity | Phrase: the eyes begin to draw straws; "bankrupt of life yet prodigal of ease"; " better years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay"; "idly busy rolls their world away "; "the mystery of folded sleep"; "the timely dew of sleep"; "thou driftest gently down the tides of sleep"; "tired Nature's sweet restorer, balmy sleep". |
Moderation | Go out like a lamb, "roar you as gently as any sucking dove,". |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Then they got a couple of pruning hooks from the garden and fished me out ever so gently. Funny, how gentle people get with you once you're dead (Sunset Blvd.; writing credit: Charles Brackett) Suddenly their came a tapping, as of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door (The Crow; writing credit: David J. Schow, John Shirley) In his case, that's putting it too gently. He's more like a predator (In the Line of Fire; writing credit: Jeff Maguire) Sometimes, I just want to put this gun right against her head, and ever so gently, pull the trigger (Death on the Nile; writing credit: Agatha Christie; Anthony Shaffer) From now on I'm going to employ relaxation techniques to turn off stress river and mosey gently down contentment creek (Drop the Dead Donkey; writing credit: Andy Hamilton; Guy Jenkin) | |
Lyrics | And I'll gently kiss your lips (I'm Already There; performing artist: Lonestar) Hair that twirls on finger tips so gently, baby (What It Feels Like For A Girl; performing artist: Madonna; writing credit: Madonna and Guy Sigsworth) Like a breeze she'll gently sigh (For My Lady; performing artist: The Moody Blues) Gently to the sea ((I Can't Help) Falling In Love With You; performing artist: UB40) Touched your head gently, felt my heart melt (Just the Two of Us; performing artist: Will Smith) | |
Clever | When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by, and nuzzle them gently. (references; author: unknown) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Kill Her Gently (1957) Gently Down the Stream (1981) Killing Me Gently (1979) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
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Music |
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Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
![]() | Foam from breaking surf washes gently against the shore. Credit: Fisheries. | ![]() | Monsieur Joly dropped it gently into the Seine. Credit: Library of Congress. |
![]() | As of someone gently rapping -- !. Credit: Library of Congress. | ||
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
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| "Sunshiney day" by Craig Stump Commentary: "At a friend's party in the park recently, and they brought these fake flowers. They hung them in the tree and they blew gently in the breeeze - VERY relaxing lying underneath them in the sun." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Play | Caption |
| Bowling ball hitting the pins, some fall over gently. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Author | Quotation |
Henry Ward Beecher | Laughter is day, and sobriety is night; a smile is the twilight that hovers gently between both, more bewitching than either. |
Jean Paul Richter | Joy descends gently upon us like the evening dew, and does not patter down like a hailstorm. |
Ralph Waldo Emerson | Trust men, and they will be true to you; treat them gently, and they will show themselves great. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Title | Author | Quote |
Sylvie and Bruno | Carroll, Lewis | The Professor gently clapped his hands |
A Christmas Carol | Dickens, Charles | He turned it gently, and sidled his face in, round the door |
Scarlet Letter | Hawthorne, Nathaniel | Mr. Dimmesdale gently repelled their entreaties |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | In the meadows, branches of trees broken by grape, but not fallen, and held by the bark, swung gently in the night wind |
Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man | Joyce, James | He moved a thin shrunken brown hand gently in the air in time to his praise and his thin quick eyelids beat often over his sad eyes |
Grapes of Wrath | Steinbeck, John | Joad was silent, looking into the distance ahead, along the road, along the white road that waved gently, like a ground swell |
Gulliver's Travels | Swift, Jonathan | After this exploit, I walked gently to and fro on the bed, to recover my breath and loss of spirits |
Walden | Thoreau, Henry David | They gently did away with the street, and the village, and the state in which he lived |
The Tempest | William Shakespeare | Ariel: I will be correspondent to command, And do my spiriting gently. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | When cleaning your nose blow gently into a soft tissue. (references) | |
Clean your rectal area gently but thoroughly after each bowel movement. (references) | ||
If you don't have time, gently pat yourself dry with a lint-free cloth. (references) | ||
Business | The American Wild West fascinates British travelers, and this type of gently rugged holiday appeals to families and the “soft adventure” group alike. (references) | |
Economic History | Cuba (09/01) | Terrain: Flat or gently rolling plains, hills; mountains up to 2,000 meters (6,000 ft.) in the southeast. (references) |
Lexicography | Devil's Dictionary | CONTROVERSY, n. A battle in which spittle or ink replaces the injurious cannon-ball and the inconsiderate bayonet. In controversy with the facile tongue -- That bloodless warfare of the old and young -- So seek your adversary to engage That on himself he shall exhaust his rage, And, like a snake that's fastened to the ground, With his own fangs inflict the fatal wound. You ask me how this miracle is done? Adopt his own opinions, one by one, And taunt him to refute them; in his wrath He'll sweep them pitilessly from his path. Advance then gently all you wish to prove, Each proposition prefaced with, "As you've So well remarked," or, "As you wisely say, And I cannot dispute," or, "By the way, This view of it which, better far expressed, Runs through your argument." Then leave the rest To him, secure that he'll perform his trust And prove your views intelligent and just. Conmore Apel Brune |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| "Gently" is generally used as an adverb (general) -- approximately 99.63% of the time. "Gently" is used about 4,041 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adverb (general) | 99.63% | 4,026 | 2,447 |
| Noun (proper) | 0.37% | 15 | 90,616 |
| Total | 100.00% | 4,041 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "gently": blow gently ♦ break smth. gently to smb. ♦ gently born ♦ gently does it! ♦ gently please! ♦ slope gently ♦ swing gently ♦ treat gently. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "gently": gently-bred, gently-curving, gently-inclined, gently-lapping, gently-moving, gently-not, gently-rising, gently-sloping, gently-spoken, gently-toned. | |
Ending with "gently": chuckled-gently, oh-so-very-gently. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "gently"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | me të butë, me mirësi (kindly, obligingly), me butësi (genially), butësisht (indulgently). (various references) | |
Arabic | رويدا, بلطف (fair, genially, obligingly, pleasantly, softly, sweet, sweetly), بعطف (kindly, with open arms), برقة (airily, nicely, piano, politely). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | спокойно (calmly, easy, evenly, leisurely, quiet, quietly, smooth), кротко, внимателно (carefully, cautiously, close, closely, guardedly, narrowly, nicely, steady, warily), нежно (dearly, fondly, tenderly), леко (cheap, easy, light, lightly, soft), полека (gradually, lightly, quietly, slowly, softly). (various references) | |
Chinese | 柔和地, 悄悄地 (softly, stealthily), 徐徐 (slowly). (various references) | |
Czech | zlehka, tiše (hush, mum, noiselessly, quietly, secretly, silently), mírnì (mildly, quietly), lehce (easily, lightly, with ease), laskavì (affectionately, graciously, kindly), jemnì (daintily, delicately, finely, sotto voce), šetrnì (frugally, near, sparingly). (various references) | |
Danish | ved korrekt ankring boer ankeret stikkes saa langsomt ud som muligt,indtil det naar havbunden,fremfor at blive sluppet,da ankeret derved kan beskadiges,eller der kan opstaa toern i ankerkaderne,og/eller skinkelen kan blive beskadiget (and/or damaged pendant wire, fouled mooring lines, proper setting af anchors sould be done by deploying the anchor as gently as possible to the ocean bottom rather than by spudding, since spudding will usually cause anchor damage), let skrånende gulv (gently sloping floor), let hældende gulv (gently sloping floor). (various references) | |
Dutch | zachtjes (carefully, leasurely, lightly, slowly), voorzichtig (careful, carefully, cautious, lightly, thoughtful). (various references) | |
Esperanto | singarde (carefully, lightly). (various references) | |
Farsi | بتدریج (Piecemeal), باملایمت , بارامی . (various references) | |
Finnish | hellävaroin (with case). (various references) | |
French | gentiment, sans forcer, piano, lent, doucement, avec douceur. (various references) | |
German | sanft (bland, blandly, calm, caressing, delicate, gentle, kindly, meek, meekly, mellow, mild, mildly, peaceful, placidly, quiet, silken, smooth, smoothly, soft, softly, suave, undulating), weltmännisch (gentlemanly, sophisticated, urbane, urbanely). (various references) | |
Greek | μαλακά (blandly). (various references) | |
Hebrew | לאט לאט (bit by bit, little by little, very slowly), בעדינות (finely), בניחותא, בנחת (quietly). (various references) | |
Hungarian | szelíden (blandly, meekly, mildly, placidly). (various references) | |
Indonesian | unyai (softly), berunyai-unyai (little by little, softly). (various references) | |
Italian | placido (calm, gentle, placid, slowly, soft), piano (arrangement, deck, design, even, flat, floor, in a low voice, level, level land, map, piano, plain, plan, plane, plot, project, schedule, scheme, shallow, slow, smooth, storey, story, tabulate, tier), lungo (adagio, along, alongside, by the side of, during, far, length, lengthy, long, over, slow, slowly, tall, thin, watery, weak), dolcemente (smoothly, softly, sweetly), delicatamente, ammodo (nicely). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 徐ろに (slowly). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | すっと (all of a sudden, directly, quickly, quietly, softly, straight), おもむろに (slowly), しっとりと (softly), しとしと . (various references) | |
Korean | 온후하게 (Clemently). (various references) | |
Manx | dy miallagh, dy mial. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | entlygay.(various references) | |
Portuguese | vagarosamente (cose, leisurely, slow), suavemente (easy, low, sweetly), mansamente, delicadamente (gingerly). (various references) | |
Romanian | uşurel (fair and softly, gingerly, lightish, slowly, steady, steady on), tandru (affectionate, amorous, dearly, fond, fondly, gentle, loving, soft, soft-hearted, tender, tenderly), liniştit (breathless, calm, calmly, comfortable, composed, cool, dead, dispassionate, easy, even, gentle, gently-sloping, halcyon, imperturbable, in comfortable circumstances, mild, noiseless, orderly, Pacific, passive, peaceable, peaceful, peacefully, placid, placidly, quiescent, quiet, reposeful, restful, secure, sedate, serene, silent, slow, smooth, sober, soft, still, tranquil, unabashed, unruffled, untroubled), frumuşel (comely, dinky, good looking, pretty, simply, slowly, tidy), dulce (amorously, benign, bland, candied, charming, dear, dessert, dulcet, flattering, fresh, genial, gentle, honeyed, lovable, luscious, melliferous, mellow, melodious, slack, smooth, soft, suave, sugared, sweet, sweetly, sweets, tender, winning), domol (don't hurry, gradually, leisurely, mild, not so fast, quiet, slow, slowly, softly), delicat (captious, dainty, delicate, delicately, fine, fine-spun, finicky, fragile, frail, fussy, gentle, gentlemanlike, mellow, nice, queasy, refined, slender, slim, slippery, soft, subdued, tactful, tender, thin, ticklish, tricky, weak), cu blândeţe (meekly, mildly), copãcel (arbuscle, Bush, shrub, steady on), blând (benign, bland, Clement, docile, dovelike, easy-tempered, fair, genial, gentle, good hearted, good natured, harmless, lenient, meek, mild, mildly, Pacific, passive, peaceable, placable, silken, soft, steady, sweet, tame, tender, tractable), binişor (don't flurry yourself, not so fast, slowly, soft, softly, stealthily), încetinel, încetişor (slowly, softly), înţelegãtor (accommodating, gentle, rational, sympathetic). (various references) | |
Russian | мягко (blandly, in kid gloves, softly, with kid gloves). (various references) | |
Scottish | slìob (lick, rub gently with the hand, sleek, stroke). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | nežno (dearly, fondly, lovingly, mildly, softly, tender), lagano (leisurely, slowly). (various references) | |
Spanish | suavemente (blandly, mildly, softly). (various references) | |
Swedish | försiktigt (carefully, cautiously, gingerly). (various references) | |
Turkish | yumuşak bir biçimde, uysalca (amenably, facilely, meekly, supply), usulca, usul (brand, cut, formality, method, modus, observance, order, practice, procedure, process, quietly, rite, system, technique, usage, way, wise), nazikçe (civilly, in style, kindly, politely, sweetly), kibarca (aristocratically, civilly, in style, mannerly, mildly, nicely, politely, sweetly). (various references) | |
Turkmen | assa. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | обережно (beware, carefully, deliberately, discreetly, gingerly, guardedly, handle with care, look ahead, look out, nix, providently, steady), лагідно (meekly), полого (aslope). (various references) | |
Vietnamese | nhẹ nhàng (airily, glib, lightly, mildly, soft, toilless, tripping, trippingly, velvety), dịu dàng chầm chậm, êm ái (consonant, cushy, dulcet, sweet, tender, tunable, tuneful). (various references) | |
Welsh | yn ofalus (carefully, lightly). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | cautim, leniter, molliter, placide. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Proverbs Chapter 29, Verse 21 |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Qui delicate a pueritia nutrit servum suum postea illum sentiet contumacem |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | Who delicatli fro childhed nurshith his seruaunt; afterward shal feelen hym vnobeisaunt. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the length. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him at length become his son. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | If a servant is gently cared for from his early years, he will become a cause of sorrow in the end. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Proverbs Chapter 29, Verse 21 |
| Cebuano | ¶ Kadtong nagamatoto sa iyang sulogoon sa dakung pagmatngon gikan sa pagkabata Magahimo kaniya nga usa ka anak sa katapusan. |
| Croatian | Tko mazi slugu svoga od djetinjstva bit æe mu poslije neposlušan. |
| Danish | Forvænner man sin Træl fra ung, vil han til sidst være Herre. |
| Dutch | Als men zijn knecht van jongs op weeldig houdt, hij zal in zijn laatste een zoon willen zijn. |
| Finnish | Jos palvelijaansa nuoresta pitäen hemmottelee, tulee hänestä lopulta kiittämätön. |
| French | Le serviteur qu`on traite mollement dès l`enfance Finit par se croire un fils. |
| German | Wenn ein Knecht von Jugend auf zärtlich gehalten wird, so will er darnach ein Junker sein. |
| Haitian Creole | ¶ Lè ou mou ak yon esklav depi li tou piti, rive yon lè l'ap konprann se pitit ou li ye. |
| Hungarian | A ki lágyan neveli gyermekségétõl fogva az õ szolgáját, végre az lesz a fiú. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Hamba yang dimanjakan sejak muda, akhirnya akan menjadi keras kepala. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Jikalau seorang hamba dipeliharakan dengan lezatnya, maka pada akhir kelak iapun hendak menjadi anak tuannya. |
| Italian | Chi accarezza lo schiavo fin dall'infanzia, alla fine costui diventerà insolente. |
| Maori | ¶ Ko te tangata e penapena ana i tana pononga mai o te tamarikitanga, ka waiho ia e ia i te mutunga hei tama tupu. |
| Norwegian | Forkjæler en sin træl fra ungdommen av, så vil han til sist være sønn i huset. |
| Portuguese | Aquele que cria delicadamente o seu servo desde a meninice, no fim tê-lo-á por herdeiro. |
| Rumanian | Slujitorul pe care -l rqsfeyi din copilqrie, la urmq ajunge de se crede fiu. - |
| Russian | еУМЙ У ДЕФУФЧБ ЧПУРЙФЩЧБФШ ТБВБ Ч ОЕЗЕ, ФП ЧРПУМЕДУФЧЙЙ ПО ЪБИПЮЕФ ВЩФШ УЩОПН. |
| Spanish | El que mima a su siervo desde la niñez, a la postre, éste será su heredero. |
| Swedish | Om någon är för efterlåten mot sin tjänare i hans ungdom, så visar denne honom på sistone förakt. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words ending with "gently": astringently, cogently, contingently, diligently, divergently, exigently, fulgently, indulgently, insurgently, intelligently, intransigently, negligently, plangently, pungently, stringently, ungently, unintelligently, urgently. (additional references) | |
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"Gently" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: ently, Gentilly, gentlia, geonly, Gestyl, getly, Getulio, gety, ginty, Goatly, guestly, Guntley, tently. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "gently" (pronounced je"ntlē) |
| 5 | -e" n t l ē | intently. |
| 4 | -n t l ē | abundantly, accidently, adamantly, apparently, ardently, arrogantly, blatantly, bluntly, brilliantly, coherently, competently, complacently, concomitantly, concurrently, confidently, consequently, consistently, constantly, conveniently, currently, decently, defiantly, differently, diligently, jointly, efficiently, elegantly, eloquently, eminently, evidently, excellently, extravagantly, exultantly, faintly, fervently, flagrantly, flamboyantly, fluently, fraudulently, frequently, hesitantly, imminently, impatiently, importantly, imprudently, inadvertently, incessantly, incoherently, incompetently, independently, indignantly, inefficiently, infrequently, inherently, innocently, insistently, instantly, insufficiently, intelligently, intermittently, leniently, magnificently, militantly, negligently, nonchalantly, obediently, patently, patiently, permanently, persistently, pleasantly, poignantly, predominantly, presently, prominently, prudently, pungently, quaintly, recently, reluctantly, reverently, saintly, significantly, silently, stridently, stringently, subsequently, sufficiently, transparently, triumphantly, unpleasantly, urgently, valiantly, vehemently, violently, virulently. |
| 3 | -t l ē | abruptly, absolutely, accurately, acutely, adequately, adroitly, affectionately, alternately, appropriately, approximately, aptly, astutely, brightly, commensurately, compassionately, completely, concretely, correctly, costly, courtly, covertly, curtly, definitely, deftly, deliberately, delicately, desperately, devoutly, difficultly, directly, discreetly, dishonestly, justly, knightly, lastly, lately, dispassionately, disproportionately, distinctly, earnestly, elaborately, exactly, expertly, explicitly, exquisitely, firstly, flatly, forthrightly, fortnightly, fortunately, ghastly, ghostly, greatly, honestly, hotly, illicitly, immaculately, immediately, imperfectly, implicitly, inaccurately, inadequately, inappropriately, incorrectly, indefinitely, indirectly, indiscriminately, ineptly, infinitely, innately, inordinately, intimately, intricately, legitimately, lightly, manifestly, minutely, moderately, modestly, mostly, motley, neatly, nightly, overtly, partly, passionately, perfectly, politely, portly, priestly, privately, promptly, proportionately, quietly, raptly, remotely, resolutely, rightly, robustly, secretly, separately, shortly, slightly, smartly, softly, sprightly, stately, steadfastly, stoutly, strictly, succinctly, sweetly, swiftly, tacitly, tightly, ultimately, unfortunately, unjustly, unsightly, vastly, Whitely. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "e-g-l-n-t-y" | |
-2 letters: gelt, gent, glen, gley, lent, tyne. | |
-3 letters: eng, gel, gen, get, gey, leg, let, ley, lye, net, teg, tel, ten, tye, yen, yet. | |
-4 letters: el, en, et, ne, ye. | |
| Words containing the letters "e-g-l-n-t-y" | |
+1 letter: lengthy, thegnly. | |
+2 letters: cogently, telegony, ungently, urgently. | |
+3 letters: cognately, elegantly, ethnology, exigently, fulgently, geniality, genitally, genteelly, gentility, lengthily, longevity, meltingly, pungently, restyling, strangely, strongyle, teasingly, teemingly, tellingly. | |
+4 letters: covetingly, deontology, diligently, enticingly, entomology, ethylating, exactingly, excitingly, exultingly, eyeletting, fetchingly, fleetingly, generality, integrally, lengthways, negatively, nematology, outyelling, outyelping, plangently, pregnantly, retiringly, rivetingly, sterlingly, strongyles, technology, temptingly, toweringly, trolleying. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Photo Album 7. Images: Digital Art 8. Sounds | 9. Quotations: Familiar 10. Quotations: Fiction 11. Quotations: Non-fiction 12. Usage Frequency | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Bible Trace 18. Derivations 19. Rhymes 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.