Benevolence

//bəˈnɛvələns// noun

noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Disposition to do good. uncountable

    "gesture of benevolence"

  2. 2
    an act intending or showing kindness and good will wordnet
  3. 3
    Charitable kindness. uncountable

    "His acts of benevolence earned him great respect."

  4. 4
    an inclination to do kind or charitable acts wordnet
  5. 5
    An altruistic gift or act. countable
Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    disposition to do good wordnet
  2. 7
    A kind of forced loan or contribution levied by kings without legal authority, first so called under Edward IV in 1473. UK, countable, historical, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
accommodatingnessact of graceact of kindnessadvantageousnessaffabilityagape

Example

More examples

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest."

Etymology

Circa 1400, original sense “good will, disposition to do good”, Old French benivolence from Latin benevolentia (also directly from Latin), literally “good will”, from bene (“well, good”) + volentia, form of volēns, form of volō (“I wish”), components cognate to English benefit and voluntary, more distantly will (via Proto-Indo-European).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.