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Gentle vs Sensitive - What's the difference?

gentle | sensitive |

As adjectives the difference between gentle and sensitive

is that gentle is tender and amiable; of a considerate or kindly disposition while sensitive is having the faculty of sensation; pertaining to the senses.

As nouns the difference between gentle and sensitive

is that gentle is (archaic) a person of high birth while sensitive is one with a paranormal sensitivity to something that most cannot perceive.

As a verb gentle

is to become gentle.

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.

    • sensitive

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Having the faculty of sensation; pertaining to the senses.
  • *, III.1.2.i:
    • The sensitive faculty most part overrules reason, the soul is carried hoodwinked, and the understanding captive like a beast.
  • Responsive to stimuli.
  • Of a person, easily offended, upset or hurt.
    • Max is very sensitive ; he cried today because of the bad news.
  • Of an issue, capable of offending, upsetting or hurting.
    • Religion is often a sensitive topic of discussion and should be avoided when dealing with foreign business associates.
  • Accurate (instrument).

    • Derived terms

    * sensitively * sensitiveness * sensitivity

    Related terms

    * sense

    Synonyms

    * tender * nesh * precise * compassionate * caring * aware

    Antonyms

    * insensitive * stoic * uncaring * resistant

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • One with a paranormal sensitivity to something that most cannot perceive.
  • * 2003 , Frederic W.H. Myers, Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death Part 2
    • Swedenborg was one of the leading savants of Europe; it would be absurd to place any of our sensitives on the same intellectual level.
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