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Gentle vs Against - What's the difference?

gentle | against |

As an adjective gentle

is tender and amiable; of a considerate or kindly disposition.

As a verb gentle

is to become gentle.

As a noun gentle

is (archaic) a person of high birth.

As a preposition against is

a close but separated relationship .

As a conjunction against is

(obsolete) by the time that (something happened); before.

As an adverb against is

in opposition to something.

gentle

English

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

    Synonyms

    * (polite) friendly, kind, polite, respectful

    Antonyms

    * (polite) rude

    Derived terms

    * gentle craft * gentleness * gentleman * gentlewoman * gently

    Verb

    (gentl)
  • to become gentle (rfex)
  • to ennoble (rfex)
  • (animal husbandry) to break; to tame; to domesticate (rfex)
  • To soothe; to calm. (rfex)
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • (archaic) A person of high birth.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Gentles , methinks you frown.
  • (archaic) A maggot used as bait by anglers (rfex)
  • A trained falcon, or falcon-gentil.
  • against

    English

    Alternative forms

    * againest (obsolete), agaynst (obsolete), agaynest (obsolete) * agenst (obsolete), agenest (obsolete), ageinst (obsolete), ageinest (qualifier), ageynst (obsolete), ageynest (qualifier), agin (colloquial or humorous)

    Preposition

    (English prepositions)
  • A close but separated relationship.
  • #In a contrary direction to.
  • #:
  • #Close to.(rfex)
  • #:
  • #*
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We expressed our readiness, and in ten minutes were in the station wagon, rolling rapidly down the long drive, for it was then after nine.
  • #In front of; before a background.
  • #:
  • #In physical contact with.
  • #:
  • #In physical opposition to, or in collision with.
  • #:
  • #*{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Michael Arlen), title= “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days, chapter=3/19/2
  • , passage=Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house?; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something?; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.}}
  • A contrasting or competitive relationship.
  • #In contrast and/or comparison with.
  • #:
  • #In competition with, versus.
  • #:
  • #*
  • #*:“[…] it is not fair of you to bring against mankind double weapons ! Dangerous enough you are as woman alone, without bringing to your aid those gifts of mind suited to problems which men have been accustomed to arrogate to themselves.”
  • #*{{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 24, author=Aled Williams, work=BBC Sport
  • , title= Chelsea 4-1 Swansea , passage=The breakthrough came through Torres who, pilloried for his miss against Manchester United a week earlier, scored his second goal of the season.}}
  • #In opposition to.
  • #:
  • #*
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.}}
  • #*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= David Van Tassel], [http://www.americanscientist.org/authors/detail/lee-dehaan Lee DeHaan
  • , title= Wild Plants to the Rescue, volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist), passage=Plant breeding is always a numbers game.
  • In exchange for.(rfex)
  • As counterbalance to.(rfex)
  • As a charge on.(rfex)
  • As protection from.
  • :
  • *{{quote-journal, year=1988, date=March 1, author=Caroni, Pico, coauthors=Schwab, Martin E. , title=Antibody against myelin associated inhibitor of neurite growth neutralizes nonpermissive substrate properties of CNS white matter, journal=Neuron citation
  • , passage=Monoclonal antibodies were raised against these proteins: IN-1 and IN-2 bound both to the 35 kd and 250 kd inhibitors and to the surface of differentiated cultured oligodendrocytes.}}
  • (lb) Exposed to.(rfex)
  • In anticipation of; in preparation for (a particular time, event etc.).
  • *, II.11:
  • *:He wrote to a friend of his, that he lived but with browne bread and water, and entreated him to send him a piece of cheese, against the time he was to make a solemne feast.
  • Synonyms

    * (in competition with) versus

    Antonyms

    * for * with

    Conjunction

    (head)
  • (obsolete) By the time that (something happened); before.
  • * , II.ix:
  • Thence she them brought into a stately Hall, / Wherein were many tables faire dispred, / And ready dight with drapets festiuall, / Against the viaundes should be ministred.
  • * 1749 , Henry Fielding, Tom Jones , Folio Society 1973, p. 6:
  • He now gave Mrs Deborah positive orders to take the child to her own bed, and to call up a maid-servant to provide it pap, and other things, against it waked.

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • In opposition to something.
  • (gambling) Having a specified likelihood of not winning or happening.
  • Statistics

    *