Benevolent definition

Benevolent





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3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Benevolent \Be*nev"o*lent\, a. [L. benevolens, -entis; bene well
     (adv. of bonus good) + volens, p. pr. of volo I will, I wish.
     See {Bounty}, and {Voluntary}.]
     Having a disposition to do good; possessing or manifesting
     love to mankind, and a desire to promote their prosperity and
     happiness; disposed to give to good objects; kind;


     charitable. -- {Be*nev"o*lent*ly}, adv.
     [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: {Benevolent}, {Beneficent}.
  
     Usage: Etymologically considered, benevolent implies wishing
            well to others, and beneficent, doing well. But by
            degrees the word benevolent has been widened to
            include not only feelings, but actions; thus, we speak
            of benevolent operations, benevolent labors for the
            public good, benevolent societies. In like manner,
            beneficent is now often applied to feelings; thus, we
            speak of the beneficent intentions of a donor. This
            extension of the terms enables us to mark nicer shades
            of meaning. Thus, the phrase "benevolent labors" turns
            attention to the source of these labors, viz.,
            benevolent feeling; while beneficent would simply mark
            them as productive of good. So, "beneficent
            intentions" point to the feelings of the donor as bent
            upon some specific good act; while "benevolent
            intentions" would only denote a general wish and
            design to do good.
            [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  benevolent
       adj 1: doing or producing good [syn: {beneficent}, {gracious}]
       2: intending or showing kindness; "a benevolent society"
       3: having or showing or arising from a desire to promote the
          welfare or happiness of others; "his benevolent smile"; "a
          benevolent nature" [syn: {good}] [ant: {malevolent}]
       4: generous in providing aid to others [syn: {freehearted}]
       5: generous in assistance to the poor; "a benevolent
          contributor"; "eleemosynary relief"; "philanthropic
          contributions" [syn: {beneficent}, {eleemosynary}, {philanthropic}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  108 Moby Thesaurus words for "benevolent":
     accommodating, advantageous, affable, agreeable, almsgiving,
     altruistic, amiable, amicable, auspicious, beneficent, beneficial,
     benign, benignant, big, bighearted, bon, bonny, braw, bueno,
     capital, caring, charitable, chivalrous, cogent, commendable,
     compassionate, complaisant, compliant, conciliatory, considerate,
     cooperative, decent, eleemosynary, elegant, estimable, excellent,
     expedient, fair, famous, favorable, fine, forbearing, forgiving,
     freehearted, friendly, generous, good, goodly, gracious, grand,
     greathearted, healthy, helpful, humane, humanitarian, indulgent,
     kind, kindly, kindly-disposed, largehearted, laudable, liberal,
     lofty, long-suffering, longanimous, magnanimous, neighborly, nice,
     noble, obliging, open-handed, openhanded, overindulgent,
     overpermissive, patient, permissive, philanthropic, placable,
     pleasant, profitable, propitious, public-spirited, regal, royal,
     salutary, skillful, sound, sparing, splendid, sympathetic,
     tenderhearted, thoughtful, tolerant, unresentful, unrevengeful,
     useful, valid, very good, virtuous, warm-hearted, welfare,
     welfare statist, welfarist, well-affected, well-disposed,
     well-intentioned, well-meaning, well-meant
  
  

















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