What's the difference between foolish and gentle?

Foolish


Definition:

  • (a.) Marked with, or exhibiting, folly; void of understanding; weak in intellect; without judgment or discretion; silly; unwise.
  • (a.) Such as a fool would do; proceeding from weakness of mind or silliness; exhibiting a want of judgment or discretion; as, a foolish act.
  • (a.) Absurd; ridiculous; despicable; contemptible.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) So, logic would dictate that if Greeks are genuinely in favour of reform – and opinion polls have consistently shown wide support for many of the structural changes needed – they would be foolish to give these two parties another chance.
  • (2) It would be foolish to bet that Saudi Arabia will exist in its current form a generation from now.” Memories of how the Saudis and Opec deliberately triggered an economic crisis in the west in retaliation for US aid to Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur war still rankle.
  • (3) That's foolish, because Real Madrid rarely look more uncomfortable than at set pieces.
  • (4) "We regret that Congress was forced to waste its time voting on a foolish bill that was premised entirely on false claims and ignorance," David Jenkins, an REP official, said in a statement.
  • (5) Shorten said while Hicks was “foolish to get caught up in the Afghanistan conflict” the court decision showed an injustice.
  • (6) Many commentators considered the suggestion merely foolish, but computer hackers issued death threats against her and her children, which she promptly posted on Twitter, along with the defiant message: "Get stuffed, losers.
  • (7) And it means that if Labour were to win, Mr Brown would be very foolish, indeed downright wrong, to move Mr Darling.
  • (8) "It was a certain kind of titillation the shop offered," the critic Matthew Collings has written, "sexual but also hopeless, destructive, foolish, funny, sad."
  • (9) Describing the moment McKellen knocked on his dressing room door he said: “I ushered him in nervously, expecting notes for my poor performance or indiscipline – I was a foolish, naughty young actor.
  • (10) But what people did when they were young and foolish, or even when they were not yet public figures, is not always the same.
  • (11) While we have this, it would be foolish to pursue a policy of still constraining resources in the acute sector.
  • (12) All three echoed remarks made recently by the Bank’s governor, Mark Carney, who said it would be “foolish” to cut rates in response to a temporary fall in inflation.
  • (13) Since the initially peaceful demonstrations against his regime began more than three years ago, he has proved himself, by turns, foolish, craven and vicious.
  • (14) In a high-risk, 65-minute speech in Manchester delivered without notes, and 20 minutes longer than he intended, Miliband tried to take the mantle of the 19th-century Tory prime minister Benjamin Disraeli's one nation, pointedly grabbing the territory and language of the centre ground which he believes David Cameron has foolishly vacated.
  • (15) But one backbencher, West Australian Liberal Dennis Jensen , has said it is foolish to set up a $20bn medical research fund at the same time as the government is cutting money from scientific agencies, including the CSIRO and the Australian Research Council.
  • (16) Donald Trump is too weak, too foolish and too chaotic to see beyond the immediate crises he has created.
  • (17) Here, too, Capote displayed uncanny journalistic skills, capturing even the most languid and enigmatic of subjects – Brando in his pomp – and eliciting the kinds of confidences that left the actor reflecting ruefully on his "unutterable foolishness".
  • (18) They privately acknowledge they were foolish in taking the bait, but argue they have broken no rules since they were offered no jobs, and therefore have no commercial interests to declare in the MPs' register.
  • (19) "Hopefully, the lesson is to stop this foolish childishness," McCain said Thursday on CNN.
  • (20) The only thing that one really knows about human nature is that it changes.” As for the social conditions that obtain: “It is exactly the existing conditions that one objects to, and any scheme that could accept these conditions is wrong and foolish.” Looking back on my political activism of the 1970s and 80s, there was a lot of refusing to accept existing conditions on the basis that they were “wrong and foolish”.

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.

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