gentility

noun

Etymology: From Old French gentilité.

1. The state of being elegant, genteel, having good breeding, or being socially superior.

   “1967-1969, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure He is the violence and fear of the boy of my stories, yet the gentility and sensitivity of poetry.”

   “A powerful visitors’ bureau has pushed the South Carolina city to the top of “best” lists by selling gentility. Critics say that has come at the expense of history and the city’s Black population.”

2. The upper classes, the gentry.