See Also: Gentle(medicine)
gentle(1)(dictionary)
gentle(2)(dictionary)
gentle(dictionary)
gentle(dictionary)
flower-gentle(medicine)
gentle-hearted(medicine)

democratic (iou) and gentle(2) (iou)


democratic (iou)



democratic adjective & noun. E17.
[Old & mod. French democratique from medieval Latin democraticus from Greek demokratikos, from demokratia DEMOCRACY: see -IC.]
A. adjective.
Of the Nature of or characterized by democracy; advocating or upholding democracy; gen. favouring social equality. E17.
A. S. Neill Summerhill is a self-governing school, democratic in form. D. Bogarde He rather wished the General was not so damned democratic, and had not insisted on sharing everyone's discomfort. fig.: Nature All the..neutrinos would interact equally, the neutral current being 'democratic' in neutrino types.
(Democratic.) Of or pertaining to a political party styled 'Democratic', spec. the US Democratic Party (see below). E19.
Christian Democratic, Social Democratic, etc. Democratic Party one of the two main US political parties (the Other being Republican) which generally supports international commitment and broad social reform.
b. noun. = DEMOCRAT noun. rare. M17.
democratical adjective & noun (a) adjective = DEMOCRATIC adjective 1; (b) noun = DEMOCRAT noun 1: L16.
democratically adverb E17.

gentle(2) (iou)



gentle noun. Also (obsolete exc. as in sense 3) gentil. LME.
[from the adjective.]
A person of gentle birth or good social position. Usu. in pl. (formerly sometimes in polite address). Now mostly arch. LME.
A maggot, the larva of the flesh-fly or bluebottle, used by anglers. L16.
= falcon-gentle s.v. GENTLE adjective 1b. L18.