Gallant

/ˈɡælənt/ · adjective

Meaning

Brave, valiant, courteous, especially with regard to male attitudes towards women..

Definitions by Sense

1. Brave, valiant, courteous, especially with regard to male attitudes towards women.
2. Honorable.
3. Grand, noble.
4. (obsolete) Showy; splendid; magnificent; gay; well-dressed.
5. Polite and attentive to ladies; courteous to women; chivalrous.
6. (dated) A fashionable young man who is polite and attentive to women.
7. One who woos, a lover, a suitor, a seducer.
8. (nautical) A topgallant.

Example Sentences

That gallant spirit hath aspired the clouds.

It is plain that the great majority of school children must be regarded, from the physical standpoint, as decidedly gallant little persons, who have wrestled through their infancy and have managed to come out of tribulations that have killed a large proportion of all the children of their birth-years.

Captain Edward Carlisle[…]felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze,[…]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.

This town is built in a very gallant place.

our royal, good and gallant ship

I admire all that quaint, old-fashioned politeness; it is much more to my taste than modern ease; modern ease often disgusts me. But this good old Mr. Woodhouse, I wish you had heard his gallant speeches to me at dinner. Oh! I assure you I began to think my caro sposo would be absolutely jealous.

PROSPERO: […] this gallant which thou see'st / Was in the wrack; and but he's something stain'd / with grief,—that beauty's canker,—thou mightst call him / A goodly person […]

[…] they were discovered in a very improper manner by the husband of the gypsy, who, from jealousy it seems, had kept a watchful eye over his wife, and had dogged her to the place, where he found her in the arms of her gallant.

Synonyms for gallant

Antonyms for gallant

Related Words

Word Forms

• more gallant
• most gallant
• gallaunt
• gallants
• gallanting
• gallanted

Usage Notes

Choose a synonym only when it preserves the intended meaning, tone, and grammar of the full sentence.

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