Benevolence
[bɪ'nev(ə)l(ə)ns;bɪ'nevəl(ə)ns;bɪ'nevələns] or [bə'
Definition
(noun.) an act intending or showing kindness and good will.
(noun.) an inclination to do kind or charitable acts.
(noun.) disposition to do good.
Typist: Marvin--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The disposition to do good; good will; charitableness; love of mankind, accompanied with a desire to promote their happiness.
(n.) An act of kindness; good done; charity given.
(n.) A species of compulsory contribution or tax, which has sometimes been illegally exacted by arbitrary kings of England, and falsely represented as a gratuity.
Checked by Claudia
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. Kindness, benignity, kind-heartedness, humanity, tenderness, charitableness, good-will, disposition to do good, milk of human kindness.
Typist: Winfred
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Kindness, goodwill, charity, philanthropy, kindliness, kind-heartedness,benignity, beneficence, liberality
ANT:Unkindness, harshness, barbarity, niggardliness, maleficence, malignity,illiberality, ill-will, churlishness
Typed by Clyde
Definition
n. disposition to do good: an act of kindness: generosity: a gift of money esp. for support of the poor: (Eng. hist.) a kind of forced loan or contribution levied by kings without legal authority first so called under Edward IV. in 1473.—adj. Benev′olent charitable generous well disposed to.—adv. Benev′olently.
Typist: Lucinda
Examples
- This was then the reward of my benevolence! Mary Shelley. Frankenstein_Or_The Modern Prometheus.
- And there's no more benevolence bubbling out of him, than out of a ninepin. Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- It was only an act of benevolence which your noble heart would approve. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Courage and ambition, when not regulated by benevolence, are fit only to make a tyrant and public robber. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Remember that cleanliness, sobriety, and even good-humour and benevolence, are our best medicines. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- The real piety and benevolence of the simple old man invested him with a temporary dignity and authority, as he spoke. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- The passions of love and hatred are always followed by, or rather conjoined with benevolence and anger. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- Female benevolence and female destitution could do nothing without him. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- Through the beaming smile with which he regarded me as he reasoned thus, there now broke forth a look of disinterested benevolence quite astonishing. Charles Dickens. Bleak House.
- But man has almost constant occasion for the help of his brethren, and it is in vain for him to expect it from their benevolence only. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- It may be imagined that things were in a bad state indeed, before this spirit of benevolence could have struck such deep roots. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- On his face it became a mild benevolence which Mrs. Archer's countenance dutifully reflected. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- This utter dependence of the speechless, bleeding youth (as a youth he regarded him) on his benevolence secured that benevolence most effectually. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- Benevolence, an't it? Charles Dickens. Little Dorrit.
- The trouble and expense of it to them would be nothing, compared with the benevolence of the action. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
Checked by Dylan