Synonyms for benevolence
bəˈnɛv ə lənsbenev·o·lence

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:4.0 / 1 vote

1. benevolence

   According to the etymology and original usage, beneficence is the doing well, benevolence the wishing or willing well to others; but benevolence has come to include beneficence, and to displace it. We should not now speak of benevolence which did not help, unless where there was no power to help; even then we should rather say good-will or sympathy. Charity, which originally meant the purest love for God and man (as in 1 Cor. xiii), is now almost universally applied to some form of almsgiving, and is much more limited in meaning than benevolence. Benignity suggests some occult power of blessing, such as was formerly ascribed to the stars; we may say a good man has an air of benignity. Kindness and tenderness are personal; benevolence and charity are general. Kindness extends to all sentient beings, whether men or animals, in prosperity or in distress. Tenderness especially goes out toward the young, feeble, and needy, or even to the dead. Humanity is so much kindness and tenderness toward man or beast as it would be inhuman not to have; we say of some act of care or kindness, "common humanity requires it." Generosity is self-forgetful kindness in disposition or action; it includes much besides giving; as, the generosity of forgiveness. Bounty applies to ample giving, which on a larger scale is expressed by munificence. Liberality indicates broad, genial kindly views, whether manifested in gifts or otherwise. We speak of the bounty of a generous host, the liberality or munificence of the founder of a college, or of the liberality of a theologian toward the holders of conflicting beliefs. Philanthropy applies to wide schemes for human welfare, often, but not always, involving large expenditures in charity or benevolence. Compare MERCY.

   Synonyms:
   almsgiving, beneficence, benignity, bounty, charity, generosity, good-will, humanity, kind-heartedness, kindliness, kindness, liberality, munificence, philanthropy, sympathy, unselfishness

   Antonyms:
   barbarity, brutality, churlishness, greediness, harshness, ill-will, illiberality, inhumanity, malevolence, malignity, niggardliness, self-seeking, selfishness, stinginess, unkindness

   Preposition:
   Benevolence of, on the part of, or from the wealthy, to or toward the poor.

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:2.0 / 1 vote

1. benevolence

   Synonyms:
   kindness, goodwill, charity, philanthropy, kindliness, kind-heartedness, benignity, beneficence, liberality

   Antonyms:
   unkindness, harshness, barbarity, niggardliness, maleficence, malignity, illiberality, ill-will, churlishness

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:1.0 / 2 votes

1. benevolencenoun

   disposition to do good

   Synonyms:
   benefaction

   Antonyms:
   malevolence, malignity

2. benevolencenoun

   an inclination to do kind or charitable acts

   Synonyms:
   benefaction

   Antonyms:
   malignity, malevolence

3. benevolence, benefactionnoun

   an act intending or showing kindness and good will

   Synonyms:
   benefaction

   Antonyms:
   malignity, malevolence

Matched Categories

1. • Kindness
   • Love

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. benevolencenoun

   Synonyms:
   kindness, benignity, kind-heartedness, humanity, tenderness, charitableness, good-will, disposition to do good, milk of human kindness

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. benevolencenoun

   Synonyms:
   beneficence, bounty, benignity, charity

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:1.0 / 1 vote

1. List of paraphrases for "benevolence":

   goodwill, generosity, yan, charity, indulgence, kindness

How to pronounce benevolence?

How to say benevolence in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use benevolence in a sentence?

1. Eli Steele:

   That word is not too strong. It's killing us now. I say every day, I hope that whites somehow begin to get the message to stop this notion that your benevolence, your virtue signaling is somehow gonna help black America achieve equality in American life. The opposite is true. It's gonna keep us down. You reduce the standards everywhere, you reduce the standards thereby saying, ‘We have no faith in you. You're inferior. We'll suspend the SAT exam in universities. We won't count it anymore because blacks don't do well on it.’ We either stand up like men and women and take our place in this world or we don’t.

2. Baruch Spinoza:

   Peace is not an absence of war, it is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence, justice.

3. Adam Smith:

   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 self-interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own neccessities but of their advantages.

4. Beppe Grillo:

   Now that the constitutional reform is getting close, the PD has saved Silvio in exchange for benevolence, both on his part and the part of his powerful media empire.

5. Omar Suleimanof Irving:

   We pray for peace, not war. Love, not hate. Benevolence, not greed.Unity, not division, and, we commit ourselves to not betraying our prayers with actions that contradict them.