Philanthropy

//fɪˈlæn.θɹə.piː// noun

noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Benevolent altruism with the intention of increasing the well-being of humankind. uncountable

    "Secondly, Another excellent Diſpoſition in Chriſt, is his Love, not only his Phylanthropy, or good Will he bears to all men, and the Deſire he hath of their Salvation, Ezek[iel] 33. 11."

  2. 2
    voluntary promotion of human welfare wordnet
  3. 3
    Charitable giving, charity. uncountable

    "As public funding is reduced, we depend increasingly on private philanthropy."

  4. 4
    A philanthropic act. countable

    "His tombstone lists his various philanthropies."

  5. 5
    A charitable foundation. countable

    "the Rockefeller philanthropies"

Synonyms

All synonyms
philanthropismagapeaidalmsgivingaltruismassistance

Example

More examples

"Philanthropy is commendable, but it must not cause the philanthropist to overlook the circumstances of economic injustice which make philanthropy necessary."

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin philanthrōpia, itself a borrowing from Ancient Greek φιλανθρωπία (philanthrōpía). By surface analysis, phil- + -anthropy.

Related phrases

e-philanthropywell being

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