Word.ws English Dictionary

gentile

Syllables: gen·tile/ˈd͡ʒɛntaɪl/

gentile adjective: non-Jewish.

gentile: non-Jewish
Image: collection by jobas, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Adjective

gentile (not comparable)

  1. Non-Jewish.
    • This ſhall bring down the Judgment upon Rome, preſently after the Appearance of Antichriſt: and as upon Rome, ſo alſo upon all the Gentile Chriſtians, who have a Name to live but are dead, being fallen away from their Firſt Love and Faith, and ſo having made themſelves Veſſels fit for Deſtruction...1711, [John Hildrop], “The Preface”, in A Treatise of the Three Evils of the Last Times: […], London: Printed by M. J. for R[obert] Knaplock […], R. and J. Bonwicke […], and H. Clements […], →OCLC...
    • If we read the Epistles of St. Paul, we shall soon discover what efforts the Jewish converts made to bring the Gentile converts into the observance of every Jewish custom compatible with christianity:^([sic]) and as we do not discover in those Epistles any traces of a dispute on this head between...1847, William Kelly, “Introduction”, in A Grammar of Gregorian, or Plain Chant Music, London: Thomas Richardson and Son, […], →OCLC, pages 11–12
    Synonyms:
    non-Jewish, goyish
  2. Heathen, pagan.
    • [John] Bale, following Annius [Annio da Viterbo], argued that druids, bards and other ‘gentile’ (pagan) priests had preserved from Noah’s time the memory of a true religion that believed ‘that there is one God, immortal and incomprehensible’ (‘unum esse Deum immortalem, et incomprehensibilem ...’).2013, Marion Gibson, Imagining the Pagan Past: Gods and Goddesses in Literature and History since the Dark Ages, Abingdon, Oxon.; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 26
  3. (Mormonism) Non-Mormon.
    • The Justice or injustice of such a principle in law, I leave for them who made it, the United States; Suffice it say the law was just as good for a the Saints as for the Gentiles, [...]1842, Willard Richards, History Draft (1 January-30 June 1842), page 9
    • Before I go further, I should make it clear that I am not now, nor have I ever been, a Mormon. [...] I’m what Latter-day Saints call a Gentile: a non-Mormon.2010, Peter A. Huff, A Gentile Recommends the Book of Mormon, volume 43, number 2, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, pages 207-208
  4. Relating to a clan, tribe, or nation; clannish, tribal, national.
    • As distinct from the old gentile order, the state, first, divides its subjects according to territory. As we have seen, the old gentile associations, built upon and held together by ties of blood, became inadequate, largely because they presupposed that the members were bound to a given territory...1902, Frederick Engels, translated by Ernest Untermann, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Chicago, Ill.: C. H. Kerr & Co., →OCLC
    • It is possible to manage without a gentile system. Many ethnoi are divided into tribes and clans.1990, Leo Gumilëv, Ethnogenesis and the Biosphere, Moscow: Progress Publishers, →ISBN, page 85
  5. Of or pertaining to a gens or several gentes.
    • The council was the great feature of ancient society, Asiatic, European and American, from the institution of the gens in savagery to civilization. […] As the council sprang from the gentile organization the two institutions have come down together through the ages. The Council of Chiefs represents...1877, Lewis H[enry] Morgan, Ancient Society, or, Researches in the Lines of Human Progress from Savagery through Barbarism to Civilization, New York, N.Y.: Henry Holt and Company, →OCLC, pages 84–85
    • He [Lewis Henry Morgan] was anxious to look for the origins of the crucial "stage" that he found exemplified in his beloved Iroquois and the North American Indians generally, that of the gentes. […] Morgan called this gens or clan stage, perhaps confusingly, the stage of gentile society. His...2011, Robin Fox, The Tribal Imagination: Civilization and the Savage Mind, Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 300
  6. Of a part of speech such as an adjective, noun or verb: relating to a particular city, nation or country.
    • Gentile verbs are so denominated because derived from gentile nouns, or from proper nouns, or adnouns: they relate to countries, and to places generally, or to men: the following are examples: Greecise, Latinise, Anglicise, […] Aristotelise, Sophoclise, Shakesperianise. Gentile verbs in their...1825, Samuel Oliver Jun., A General, Critical Grammar of the Inglish Language; on a System Novel, and Extensive: […], London: Published, for the author, by Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, →OCLC, page 115
    • Gentile Nouns. […] To this form belong our gentile nouns Englishman, Welshman, Scotchman, Irishman. These nouns are represented in Irish by adjectives or nouns of the form (1+ac): Alban-ac, Scotchman.1854, William Barnes, “Etymology”, in A Philological Grammar: Grounded upon English, and Formed from a Comparison of More Than Sixty Languages. […], London: John Russell Smith, […], →OCLC, page 71

Noun (1)

gentile (plural gentiles)

  1. (Judaism) A non-Jewish person.
    • And he said, It is a light thing that thou shouldest be my seruant to raise vp the tribes of Iacob, and to restore the preserued of Israel: I will also giue thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my saluation, vnto the end of the earth.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 49:6
    • Yea farther, ſo glorious, and raviſhing were the firſt dawnings of Goſpel light, which brought ſuch glad tidings of Salvation to Mankind, as that not only the Jews, but alſo ſome ſober minded, inquiſitive Gentiles rejoyced in this Light for a ſeaſon […] who yet never had a through work of...1671, Theophilus Gale, “Of the Academicks, and New Platonicks of Alexandria”, in The Court of the Gentiles: or, A Discourse Touching the Original of Human Literature, both Philologie, and...
    Synonyms:
    non-Jew, goy
  2. (Mormonism) A non-Mormon person.
  3. A noun derived from a proper noun which denotes something belonging to or coming from a particular city, nation, or country.
    • Gentiles are denominative nouns denoting belonging to or coming from a particular country, nation, or city. Gentiles are formed from proper nouns by secondary suffixes.1956, Herbert Weir Smyth, Gordon M. Messing, Greek Grammar, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page 233

Noun (2) capitalized: Gentile

Gentile (plural Gentiles)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of gentile (a non-Jewish person).
  2. (Mormonism) A non-Mormon person (including Jews).

gentile meaning in Hindi, Tagalog and Arabic

gentile in Hindi

non-Jewish
अन्यजाति anyajāti
non-Jewish person
अन्यजाति anyajāti

gentile in Tagalog

non-Jewish
hentil

gentile in Arabic

non-Jewish
أُمِّي ʔummī

Examples of gentile in a sentence

  • There is further evidence of the fact that both Romans and the Herodians distinguished Jewish from Gentile areas and treated them differently.2001, E[d] P[arish] Sanders, “Jesus in Galilee”, in Doris Donnelly, editor, Jesus: A Colloquium in the Holy Land, New York, N.Y.; London...
  • As distinct from the old gentile order, the state, first, divides its subjects according to territory.1902, Frederick Engels, translated by Ernest Untermann, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Chicago, Ill.: C. H. Kerr...
  • He knew little of Africa and Asia, but they would have supported his observation, the gentile organization—the clans—lasting in China, for example, until modern times.2011, Robin Fox, The Tribal Imagination: Civilization and the Savage Mind, Cambridge, Mass.; London: Harvard University Press, →ISBN, page...
  • If a Jew cheated a Gentile one sixth in the purchase or in the sale of any commodity, the Gentile was without remedy; not so if a Gentile imposed on a Jew to the same amount.1810, George Ensor, “What Should Disqualify Persons from Being Electors or Representatives”, in On National Government, … In Two Volumes...

Synonyms of gentile

Forms of gentile

Adjective
alternative formGentile
Noun
pluralgentiles
pluralGentiles
alternative formgentile

Plural of gentile: gentiles

Origin of gentile

Borrowed from French gentil (“gentile”), from Latin gentīlis (“of or belonging to the same people or nation”), morphologically from gēns (“clan; tribe; people, family”) + adjective suffix -īlis (“-ile”). Doublet of gentle, genteel, jaunty, and Gentoo. See also gens, gender, genus, and generation.

From French gentil (“gentile”), from Latin gentīlis (“of or belonging to the same people or nation”), from gēns (“clan, tribe”) + adjective suffix -īlis (“-ile”).

Words formed from gentile

Words that rhyme with gentile

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about gentile

What does gentile mean?
Gentile means non-Jewish.
What is gentile in Hindi?
Gentile in Hindi is अन्यजाति (anyajāti). See Gentile meaning in Hindi.
How do you use gentile in a sentence?
There is further evidence of the fact that both Romans and the Herodians distinguished Jewish from Gentile areas and treated them differently.
What part of speech is gentile?
Gentile can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce gentile?
Gentile is pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɛntaɪl/.

Words near gentile in the dictionary

  1. gentibioside
  2. gentic
  3. genticide
  4. genticides
  5. genticulate
  6. gentile
  7. gentiledom
  8. gentiles
  9. gentilesse
  10. gentilhomme
  11. gentilhommes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: gentile (page history and authors); Gentile (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-I learned some phrases-gentile.wav.

Cite this entry: “gentile.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gentile. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.