What's the difference between gallantry and politesse?

Gallantry


Definition:

  • (n.) Splendor of appearance; ostentatious finery.
  • (n.) Bravery; intrepidity; as, the troops behaved with great gallantry.
  • (n.) Civility or polite attention to ladies; in a bad sense, attention or courtesy designed to win criminal favors from a female; freedom of principle or practice with respect to female virtue; intrigue.
  • (n.) Gallant persons, collectively.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) You can bear witness to the gallantry of our military in Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Darfur and many other parts of the world, but in the matter of the insurgency our soldiers have neither received the necessary support nor the required incentives to tackle this problem.” He added: “We believe that there is faulty intelligence and analysis.
  • (2) That way I can rescue my dad!” My friend Li Heping, a man China thinks is 'more dangerous than Bin Laden' Read more For all her gallantry, it is a battle the six-year-old is unlikely to win.
  • (3) The Whitby coxswain Thomas Langlands, on the rowing boat lifeboat first to the wreck, was among three people awarded the RNLI's gold medal for gallantry, its equivalent of the Victoria Cross.
  • (4) Before the parade, gallantry medals were awarded posthumously to two soldiers killed last year in clashes with Islamist separatists in the Himalayan former princedom of Kashmir, disputed for more than six decades years by India and Pakistan.
  • (5) The author shares a personal glimpse of Sir Stewart's wit, candor, and gallantry, observed during her more than 15-year relationship with him as a glaucoma patient.
  • (6) Earlier that day, with theatrical gallantry, he had announced to the cameras that his wife looked truly beautiful.
  • (7) Attard said France could no longer let male politicians break the law and harass and assault women every day as if such behaviour were a joke or a form of gallantry.
  • (8) Putin’s gallantry was one of the more comfortable and spontaneous moments he shared at the conference: talks with Barack Obama and the Australian prime minister were frostier.
  • (9) It's a scene that is destined to become one of the all-time greats, the brutally memorable keystone of McQueen's project of forcing the US to confront the gruesome realities of slave culture; a long, long way from the "pretty world [in which] gallantry took its last bow" as Gone with the Wind would have it.
  • (10) Four silver medals, the Empire Gallantry Medal and the bronze medal of the RSPCA (the Rohilla's captain saved the ship's cat) were also awarded.
  • (11) For his selfless bravery Christopher was posthumously awarded the Queen’s Gallantry medal in 2001.
  • (12) Doing so would not be an act of gallantry but an act of enlightened self-interest for net companies.
  • (13) The central character has often been criticised as being merely functional, but it seems to me that Nicholas is very close to a portrait of the artist as a young man: his passion, impulsiveness, somewhat exaggerated notions of gallantry, occasional priggishness and big embracing spirit are so much shared with his author (who at this stage of his life frequently had to take to horseback in order to work off his undischarged surplus of élan vital) that reading the book puts us in very close proximity to the young Dickens.
  • (14) Keen to protect them from yet more horrid publicity, Grant referred to "girlfriend 1" and "girlfriend 2," yet his gallantry only served to underline how much some things have changed since Queen Victoria set the tone.
  • (15) He was commended for gallantry in 1990, made an MBE in 1992, and in 1997 he received an OBE in recognition of his service in Bosnia.
  • (16) Christopher Howes was posthumously awarded the Queen’s Gallantry medal in 2001.
  • (17) Film fans may recall with a nauseated feeling the opening titles of a very different movie about the slaveholding south, 1939's Gone With the Wind: "Here in this pretty world, Gallantry took its last bow."
  • (18) In the dictionary, it is defined as courage, pluck, valour, fearlessness, nerve, daring, heroism, gallantry.
  • (19) But there is clearly a correlation between combat operations and challenges in mental health, and we must do all we can to support people through this.” He added: “Our men and women have displayed great courage and gallantry throughout the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq; hundreds have lost their lives and thousands have been seriously wounded … We need to have the confidence that the MoD will continue to look after these people and their families should they ever suffer from any ill-effects of their service.” Chris Simpkins, director general of the Royal British Legion, said: “The £150,000 spent per year by each of the 10 NHS veterans mental health networks in England is not enough to shield veterans from the extreme postcode lottery of variable waiting times for mental health treatment.
  • (20) Without any aggressiveness or naivety, we will defend the interests of the 27 and the single market.” Despite the show of gallantry towards May, he criticised those who have said a country could leave the EU without consequences.

Politesse


Definition:

  • (n.) Politeness.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) After many years of tutoring in the arts of politesse, 62 of Seldon's students are, he judges, clever enough to get into Oxbridge but only a third actually will.
  • (2) But once you got to know the man, his kindness and extreme politesse came through strongly.

Words possibly related to "politesse"