benevolence
Pronunciation: /bəˈnɛvələns/
The English word “benevolence” has 4 meanings listed here.
noun
- Disposition to do good.
- Charitable kindness.
- An altruistic gift or act.
- A kind of forced loan or contribution levied by kings without legal authority, first so called under Edward IV in 1473.
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 (“to wish”), components cognate to English benefit and voluntary, more distantly will (via Proto-Indo-European).
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More English words
- benettitalean
- benettle
- benettled
- Beneventan
- benevolent
- benevolent absolutism
- benevolent assimilation
- benevolent dictator for life
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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.