gentleness
part of speech
noun (gentleness, uncountable)
meaning for a pupil
1) Gentleness is the quality of being kind, calm and careful, not rough or harsh. tree →
2) Softness or mildness: the gentleness of a breeze or a slope. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: Calm, mild behavior. Ecclesiastes says that a soft answer can calm an angry ruler. Interpretation: The tradition prizes gentle speech and patience, which the Proverbs also praise as wise. In the primary lessons: In ethics and religious education gentleness is a virtue; Christians list it among the «fruit of the Spirit» in Paul's letter to the Galatians. In everyday life gentleness is needed with babies, pets and people who are upset. Phrases: «with gentleness», «great gentleness», «gentleness and kindness».
examples
- If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for gentleness allayeth great offences. (Writings ECC.10.4, JPS 1917) tree →
- She held the baby bird with great gentleness. tree →
- The vet treated the frightened dog with gentleness. tree →
- Gentleness is a strength, not a weakness. tree →
- Christians count gentleness among the fruit of the Spirit. tree →
- The teacher spoke with gentleness to the crying boy. tree →
- I like the gentleness of the summer breeze. tree →
- Grandpa's gentleness made everyone feel safe. tree →
- Gentleness and kind persuasion win where force and bluster fail. tree →
note
Uncountable: no plural. From the adjective «gentle» + -ness; adverb «gently». Opposite: roughness, harshness.
In the corpora
- If the spirit of the ruler rise up against thee, leave not thy place; for gentleness allayeth great offences.
- The Bible (1 Peter 3:15) asks Christians to be ready to give a reason for their hope, with gentleness and respect.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «gentleness» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.