What's the difference between firm and gentle?

Firm


Definition:

  • (superl.) Fixed; hence, closely compressed; compact; substantial; hard; solid; -- applied to the matter of bodies; as, firm flesh; firm muscles, firm wood.
  • (superl.) Not easily excited or disturbed; unchanging in purpose; fixed; steady; constant; stable; unshaken; not easily changed in feelings or will; strong; as, a firm believer; a firm friend; a firm adherent.
  • (superl.) Solid; -- opposed to fluid; as, firm land.
  • (superl.) Indicating firmness; as, a firm tread; a firm countenance.
  • (a.) The name, title, or style, under which a company transacts business; a partnership of two or more persons; a commercial house; as, the firm of Hope & Co.
  • (a.) To fix; to settle; to confirm; to establish.
  • (a.) To fix or direct with firmness.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Villagers, including one man who has been left disabled and the relatives of six men who were killed, are suing ABG in the UK high court, represented by British law firm Leigh Day, alleging that Tanzanian police officers shot unarmed locals.
  • (2) However, direct measurements of mediator release should be carried out to reach a firm conclusion.
  • (3) Video games specialist Game was teetering on the brink of collapse on Friday after a rescue deal put forward by private equity firm OpCapita appeared to have been given the cold shoulder by lenders who are owed more than £100m.
  • (4) One is that the issue of whether the World Cup should go ahead in Russia and Qatar still firmly remains on the table.
  • (5) Neil Blessitt Bristol • We need to establish what the legal position is with regard to the establishment by the government of a private company co-owned by the Department of Health and the French firm Sopra Steria.
  • (6) Particular attention has been paid to diabetes mellitus and chronic pancreatitis, but a firm conclusion cannot be drawn.
  • (7) Pupils who disrupt the learning of their classmates are dealt with firmly and, in many cases, a short suspension is an effective way of nipping bad behaviour in the bud."
  • (8) Cloning of the A-T allele(s) will assist in the early or prenatal diagnosis of A-T and provide a firm basis for determining who, in the general population, carries this gene and is therefore at a high risk of cancer.
  • (9) We are firmly opposed to that," an unidentified spokesman from the ministry of industry and information technology told the state news agency, Xinhua.
  • (10) Officers arrested her last month during the protest against oil drilling by the energy firm Cuadrilla at Balcombe in West Sussex – a demonstration Lucas has attended several times.
  • (11) "At the moment there are about 1,600 criminal justice firms, and they all have a contract with the lord chancellor.
  • (12) VAT increases don't just hit the poor more than the rich, they also hit small firms, threaten retail jobs and, by boosting inflation, could also lead to higher interest rates."
  • (13) Her story is an incredible tale of triumph over tragedy: a tormented childhood during China's Cultural Revolution, detention and forced exile after exposing female infanticide – then glittering success as the head of a major US technology firm.
  • (14) We firmly believe that a systematic approach to the 12-lead ECG can provide information that can diagnose the difference between ventricular and supraventricular tachycardia, and in many instances diagnose the mechanism and site of origin of the supraventricular tachycardia.
  • (15) Terry Waite Chair, Benedict Birnberg Deputy chair, Antonio Ferrara CEO The Prisons Video Trust • If I want to build a bridge, I call in a firm of civil engineers who specialise in bridge-building.
  • (16) The court hearing – in a case of the kind likely to be heard in secret if the government's justice and security bill is passed – was requested by the law firm Leigh Day and the legal charity Reprieve, acting for Serdar Mohammed, tortured by the Afghan security services after being transferred to their custody by UK forces.
  • (17) Doubts about Hinkley Point have deepened after a detailed report by HSBC’s energy analysts described eight key challenges to the project, which will be built by the state-backed French firm EDF and be part-financed by investment from China .
  • (18) China's relations with the NTC were strained last week when it emerged Chinese arms firms had talked to Muammar Gaddafi's representatives about weapons sales .
  • (19) It may not point to independence – nor, given that large swaths of Wales remain firmly dominated by Labour, mean any huge advance for Plaid Cymru.
  • (20) In order to identify these anchorage structures, the non-DNA materials that remain firmly bound to chromosomal DNA under conditions that disintegrate the high salt-stable architecture of nuclei were investigated.

Gentle


Definition:

  • (superl.) Well-born; of a good family or respectable birth, though not noble.
  • (superl.) Quiet and refined in manners; not rough, harsh, or stern; mild; meek; bland; amiable; tender; as, a gentle nature, temper, or disposition; a gentle manner; a gentle address; a gentle voice.
  • (superl.) A compellative of respect, consideration, or conciliation; as, gentle reader.
  • (superl.) Not wild, turbulent, or refractory; quiet and docile; tame; peaceable; as, a gentle horse.
  • (superl.) Soft; not violent or rough; not strong, loud, or disturbing; easy; soothing; pacific; as, a gentle touch; a gentle gallop .
  • (n.) One well born; a gentleman.
  • (n.) A trained falcon. See Falcon-gentil.
  • (n.) A dipterous larva used as fish bait.
  • (v. t.) To make genteel; to raise from the vulgar; to ennoble.
  • (v. t.) To make smooth, cozy, or agreeable.
  • (v. t.) To make kind and docile, as a horse.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Put in a large bowl, add the parsley, oil and lemon juice, and gently toss.
  • (2) Differential and sucrose gradient centrifugation of honey bee thoraces, disrupted by gentle methods and using mannitol-triethanolamine-EDTA buffer at pH 6.5, showed that in the honey bee thorax 92-94.8% of the trehalase was mitochondrial.
  • (3) Despite his gentle demeanour, the 52-year-old director can be a taskmaster on set, according to colleagues.
  • (4) The response was composed of an isometric phase, during which the body weight was shifted from the stimulated limb to the opposite forelimb while the stimulated limb was gently pushed backwards, and a movement phase during which the stimulated paw actually accomplished the placing reaction.
  • (5) Maximal expiratory flow-volume (MEFV) curves similar to those obtained in most dogs and in some humans could be produced: a peak followed by a gently sloping plateau ending in a knee, where flow suddenly fell to a much smaller value approaching zero rather slowly over the last 25 to 50% of the expired vital capacity.
  • (6) Ten tissue sections from 10 examples of Bowen's disease were excised from paraffin blocks, rehydrated, and incubated in 90% formic acid at 45 degrees C for 18 h. The epidermis was gently removed with the aid of a dissecting microscope, and the remaining dermis with attached basal lamina was processed for scanning electron microscopy.
  • (7) Varying widely in size and configuration, these structures are usually somewhat ovoid but can be elongated, gently squared, or asymmetric.
  • (8) Less than 2% of humanitarian funds 'go directly to local NGOs' Read more Suggest to her that she’s too outspoken, that her approach is counterproductive and alienates those who are trying to drive change more gently, and she pauses.
  • (9) Rabbit aorta contracting substance (RCS) and prostaglandins were released from guinea-pig isolated perfused lungs by gentle massage and also by infusion of Prosparol.2.
  • (10) Endodontic procedures should be accomplished with judicious precision and gentle.
  • (11) If this coastline ever gets fully developed, I hope it happens in this direction, taking the lead from Punta del Diablo with a gentle development down, rather than large-scale and from Punta del Este upwards.
  • (12) The cell debris from the surfaces of the separated incisors was either gently wiped off with soft facial tissues or chemically removed by treating with NaOH, NaOCl or trypsin.
  • (13) Does he really think, like those daft gender essentialists, that women are innately gentle and men are big brutes out for a ruck?
  • (14) An attempt was made to isolate undegraded hyaluronan from rat skin by gentle methods giving full recovery in order to estimate the molecular weight of the polysaccharide.
  • (15) The adherent cells are easily removed by gentle pipetting; both adherent and nonadherent populations retain immunologic function.
  • (16) Ramos was beaten to it, De Gea did not move and Kalinic jumped to ease in a gentle, back-heel-style volley with the outside of his foot.
  • (17) But Nick Loening, owner of Ecoyoga in the Scottish Highlands, is evangelical about the benefits of a good soak and gently insistent that his guests make the most of the various bathing options at his retreat – regardless of the weather.
  • (18) My father, Peter Self, who was, oxymoronically, a “political scientist”, wrote numerous books, which, while often technical in character, were nonetheless informed by his own rather gentle and utopian socialism.
  • (19) When we say goodbye, Max turns in the passenger seat, and says, simply: 'Be gentle with her.'
  • (20) 5 Dollop the blackcurrant jam all over the surface of the cooked custard and spread gently to level it.