gentility
/dʒɛnˈtɪlɪti
/noun [mass noun]
Social superiority as demonstrated by polite and respectable manners, behaviour, or appearances: her grandmother’s pretensions to gentility...
- Meanwhile, music for the home centred on the piano, which was now the quintessential domestic instrument, badge of female gentility and social respectability.
- Chintz armchairs and couch, and a walnut sideboard with light-catching decanters and a crystal fruit bowl on lace, completed to the air of polite gentility.
- Since drinking coffee socially was something that gentility and the aristocracy did, the middle classes could prove their own respectability and gentility by doing the same.
Synonyms
social superiority, respectability, refinement, pre-eminence, pride of place, distinction, ascendancy
British informal poshness
humorous couth
respectability, refinement, polish, decorousness, correctness, seemliness, politeness, good manners, culture, breeding, cultivation, sophistication, courtesy, ladylikeness, gentlemanliness, civility, elegance, style, stylishness, urbanity, civilization, courtliness, dignity, grace, graciousness, punctiliousness;
affectedness, affectation, ostentation, ostentatiousness
dated mannerliness
Origin
Middle English (in the sense 'honourable birth'): from Old French gentilite, from gentil (see gentle1).