Benevolent

Benev"olent

(), 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. 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]

New - Add Dictionary Search to Your Site

You can add a free dictionary search box to your own web site by copying and pasting the following HTML into one of your web pages:

<form action="http://www.freedict.co.uk/search.php" method="post">
 <p style="text-align: center; font-family: sans-serif;">
  <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.freedict.co.uk/"
     title="FreeDict free online dictionary">FreeDict</a>
  <input type="text" name="word" size="20" value="" />
  <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Search Dictionary" />
 </p>
</form>

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Wed 12th December 2018