BENEVOLENCE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Benevolence

Add this Dictionary
to your website!
See more options...

/bənˈɛvələns/ Listen

noun

Benevolence n.

The disposition to do good; good will; charitableness; love of mankind, accompanied with a desire to promote their happiness. "The wakeful benevolence of the gospel."

An act of kindness; good done; charity given.

A species of compulsory contribution or tax, which has sometimes been illegally exacted by arbitrary kings of England, and falsely represented as a gratuity.

Synonyms: Benevolence, Beneficence, Munificence. Benevolence marks a disposition made up of a choice and desire for the happiness of others. Beneficence marks the working of this disposition in dispensing good on a somewhat broad scale. Munificence shows the same disposition, but acting on a still broader scale, in conferring gifts and favors. These are not necessarily confined to objects of immediate utility. One may show his munificence in presents of pictures or jewelry, but this would not be beneficence. Benevolence of heart; beneficence of life; munificence in the encouragement of letters.

See images of 'Benevolence'

Etymology of 'Benevolence'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

Share |

"Benevolence" Quotes from Famous Books

... meeting. The Rev. Mr. Neale vouched for him before the public. It was not particularly necessary, for Brother Grimes carried a recommendation in his face: it was written all over with veracity and benevolence. ...

— History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2 (of 2) - Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens • George Washington Williams

... obediently sat down, her knees trembling a little, Van Vreck drew up a chair for himself, and, resting his arms on the table, leaned across it gazing at the girl with a queer, humorous benevolence. ...

— The Second Latchkey • Charles Norris Williamson and Alice Muriel Williamson

... strangely troubled as the fisherman talked. All that he had heard about the tiny folk in his childhood—of their vindictiveness toward enemies and their benevolence toward friends—came back to him. It had never gone well with those who had attempted to hold one ...

— The Wonderful Adventures of Nils • Selma Lagerlof

... sexes. His decrees cannot be changed by human legislation. In the education of our children the mother stands far above all superintendents, commissioners, trustees and school teachers. Her influence in the family, in social intercourse and enterprises, outweighs all the mere machinery of benevolence and education. To lower her from the high and holy place given her by nature, is to degrade her power and to injure rather than benefit the cause of education itself. In all enlightened and Christian nations the experience and observations of ages have illustrated ...

— History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III (of III) • Various

... elapsed, Mr. and Mrs. Grig were comfortably settled in a pleasant cottage belonging to Mrs. Dunmore, whose increasing benevolence had found a delightful impulse in the certainty that the poor woman was no other than one of her school-girl acquaintances, whom she had most dearly loved, but of whom she had heard little since they had completed their studies. They had married, and in their new relationships ...

— The Elm Tree Tales • F. Irene Burge Smith

More quotes...