gentry

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

As opportunities to flex their military might diminished, samurai instead became landed gentry, taking on bureaucratic roles as tax agents, heads of fire brigades and land managers.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 7, 2026

One was based on class power of early merchant capitalists and the other based on the caste power of the Southern white gentry.

From Salon • Oct. 12, 2024

That began with the burning of some bails — small wooden pegs that sit atop cricket stumps — after a team of English gentry lost to a squad of colonial upstarts from Australia.

From Seattle Times • Aug. 15, 2023

Italian hand gestures and accents as thick as Sunday gravy are interspersed among the older gentry, but there’s a distinct GI ring to this theatrical milieu.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 13, 2023

The Virginia gentry were psychologically incapable of sharing Hamilton’s affinity with men who made their living manipulating interest rates.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis