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gently

Pronunciation: /ˈd͡ʒɛntli/

The English word “gently” has 5 meanings listed here.

adverb

  1. Without strong force or quickness: softly, lightly.
  2. In a gentle manner; to a gentle degree.
  3. Quietly: without much noise or motion.
  4. From a gentle or high-class family.
  5. In the manner of one of gentle birth; in a manner that reflects the traditional virtues of the gentry: courteously, nobly.

Etymology

From Middle English gentilly, gentlych, gentilliche, equivalent to gentle + -ly, with *-lely simplified to -ly by haplology.

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.