Adjective

(en adjective)

(obsolete) Appropriate; suitable for the circumstances.

(of a person) Having a suitable conformity to basic moral standards; showing integrity, fairness, or other characteristics associated with moral uprightness.

Sufficiently clothed or dressed to be seen.

Fair; good enough; okay.

* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)

, title=(The China Governess) , chapter=Foreword citation , passage=A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.}}

Significant; substantial.

(obsolete) Comely; shapely; well-formed.

* A sable stole of cyprus lawn / Over thy decent shoulders drawn — Milton.

Adjective

(er)

Tender and amiable; of a considerate or kindly disposition.

Soft and mild rather than hard or severe.

*{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)

, title=(The China Governess) , chapter=3 citation , passage=Here the stripped panelling was warmly gold and the pictures, mostly of the English school, were mellow and gentle in the afternoon light.}}

Docile and easily managed.

a gentle horse

Gradual rather than steep or sudden.

Polite and respectful rather than rude.

(archaic) Well-born; of a good family or respectable birth, though not noble.

* Johnson's Cyc.

British society is divided into nobility, gentry, and yeomanry, and families are either noble, gentle , or simple.

* Milton

the studies wherein our noble and gentle youth ought to bestow their time