Well-meaning

adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    With good intentions, often used to reflect positively on a negative outcome or situation.

    "The professor is well-meaning enough, but he usually ruins things one way or another."

Adjective
  1. 1
    not unfriendly or threatening wordnet
  2. 2
    marked by good intentions though often producing unfortunate results wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
agreeableamiableamicablebeneficentbenevolentbenign

Example

More examples

"Well-meaning noobs can give advice capable of bringing about an armageddon with the potential of destroying the Earth multiple times over."

Etymology

From well + meaning.

Related phrases

well-meaninglywell-meaningness

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