gentle
part of speech
adjective (gentler, gentlest)
meaning for a pupil
1) Gentle means kind and careful, not rough or violent. tree →
2) Gentle means soft or light, not strong, like a gentle breeze. tree →
3) A gentle slope or hill is not steep. tree →
4) Gentle sounds or words are quiet and calm. tree →
5) A gentlewoman is a woman of good family, a polite word for a lady. tree →
sense in the lessons
In pet care and kindness lessons, be gentle with animals, babies and younger children: hold softly, speak quietly, never squeeze or pull. In science and geography, a gentle slope rises slowly. In stories, a gentle giant is big but kind. Phrases: be gentle with, a gentle breeze, a gentle slope, gentle giant, gentle reminder.
examples
- Be gentle with the kitten. tree →
- A gentle breeze moved the curtains. tree →
- She gave me a gentle push on the swing. tree →
- The path went up a gentle slope. tree →
- He has a gentle voice. tree →
- Grandma is kind and gentle. tree →
- The elephant was a gentle giant. tree →
- "His name is Walter Raleigh," said the gentle-woman. tree →
note
Adverb: gently (stroke the dog gently). Opposite: rough. "Gentle" does not mean weak; being gentle often takes self-control. Not to be confused with "gentleman" though they are related.
In the corpora
- Grief gets gentler over months and years; playing and laughing during that time does not mean you have forgotten the person.
- Keepers have «hands-off» rules for dangerous animals and «hands-on» care for gentle ones.
- Tarantulas are mostly gentle; their bite is usually no worse than a bee sting, and some flick itchy hairs to defend themselves.
- Sea snakes are very venomous but usually gentle and rarely bite people, and their tails are flat like oars for swimming.
- A real Great Dane is huge but gentle and calm.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «gentle» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.