genteelly

genteel | American Dictionary

genteel
adjective
us/dʒenˈtil/
polite and correct in manner, or trying to be polite and correct in order to appear to be of a high social class:
When in company, they affected genteel table manners.

Examples of genteel

genteel
Sectarianism was not, therefore, simply an expression of working-class antagonisms but enjoyed a healthy support in the genteel suburbs.
Indeed, it was because of this sanctification that they could betray codes of genteel conduct without reprisal.
In particular, he casts aspersions on the genteel pretensions of the upper middle classes, and the old boy network's efforts to monopolize professional careers.
The clip-clop of horses' hooves today may evoke flowing silk dresses and frock coats, carriages and a genteel way of life that has disappeared.
He also became critical of the emptiness of the genteel life he was supposed to emulate.
The ornamental cottage is to an equivalent degree a reduction in the social equipment which might be expected by a genteel family.
Rather, she sought a genteel method of putting food on the table for her family.
Historians have often been too ready to accept this image of the reluctant genteel governess without question.
Certainly, a literary distinction between genteel merchants and vulgar manufacturers had popular currency throughout the period.
As the figure of the highway robber received further elaboration over the course of the early modern period, his links with genteel status were restored.
He goes on to discuss the various ways he could have handled this same material "in the 'genteel,' 'romantic,' or 'facetious' manners" (60; ch. 6).
Archaeological dialogues are not always genteel affairs.
The genteel urbanity of the residential zone's crescents and squares juxtaposes with a strict geometric grid-plan in the separate industrial zone.
The temptation to cultural cringe must have been very great for these youthful newcomers, faced with a frighteningly competitive genteel society in which their status required to be defended.
Much work on regulation is marked by a kind of genteel millenarianism: we always seem to be at the end of some era and the start of another.
See all examples of genteel
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.