genteel

Từ điển Oxford Advanced Learner 8th

gen·teel BrE [dʒenˈtiːl] NAmE [dʒenˈtiːl] adjective (sometimes disapproving)
1. (of people and their way of life)quiet and polite, often in an exaggerated way; from, or pretending to be from, a high social class
•a genteel manner
•Her genteel accent irritated me.
•He lived in genteel poverty (= trying to keep the style of a high social class, but with little money).
2. (of places)quiet and old-fashioned and perhaps slightly boring
Derived Word: ↑genteelly

Word Origin:
[genteel genteelly] late 16th cent. (in the sense ‘fashionable, stylish’): from French gentil ‘well-born’. From the 17th cent. to the 19th cent. the word was used in such senses as ‘of good social position’, ‘having the manners of a well-born person’, ‘well bred’. The ironic or derogatory implication dates from the 19th cent.

• Từ đồng nghĩa / Synonyms:
  civilized, civilised, cultivated, cultured, polite