WELL-BRED

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does well-bred mean? 

• WELL-BRED (adjective)
  The adjective WELL-BRED has 1 sense:

1. of good upbringing

  Familiarity information: WELL-BRED used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WELL-BRED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of good upbringing

Synonyms:

well-bred; well-mannered

Similar:

refined ((used of persons and their behavior) cultivated and genteel)

 Context examples 

We do not often look upon fine young men, well-bred and agreeable.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I don't think his family would object, and I should be very happy, for they are all kind, well-bred, generous people, and they like me.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

He is not at all a well-bred young man.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

I can only pronounce him to be a sensible man, well-bred, well-informed, of gentle address, and, I believe, possessing an amiable heart.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

Miss Crawford listened with submission, and said to herself, “He is a well-bred man; he makes the best of it.”

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

The Netherfield ladies would have had difficulty in believing that a man who lived by trade, and within view of his own warehouses, could have been so well-bred and agreeable.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

When I was leaving the room, last of our party, he said to me in a quiet, well-bred voice:—You will, I trust, Dr. Seward, do me the justice to bear in mind, later on, that I did what I could to convince you to-night.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

He glanced about him at the well-bred, well-dressed men and women, and breathed into his lungs the atmosphere of culture and refinement, and at the same moment the ghost of his early youth, in stiff- rim and square-cut, with swagger and toughness, stalked across the room.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Indeed, his whole manner, with his short, sharp glance and the fine poise of the head, spoke of energy and alertness, so that he reminded me, if I may compare great things with small, of a well-bred fighting terrier, gentle and slim, but keen and ready for whatever chance might send.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The idea of my being aristocratic and well-bred, and your being afraid to go anywhere alone!

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)