Word.ws English Dictionary

benevolence

/bəˈnɛvələns/

benevolence noun: disposition to do good.

Noun

benevolence (countable and uncountable, plural benevolences)

  1. (uncountable) Disposition to do good.
    • gesture of benevolence
    • show benevolence
  2. (uncountable) Charitable kindness.
    • His acts of benevolence earned him great respect.
  3. (countable) An altruistic gift or act.
  4. (UK, historical) A kind of forced loan or contribution levied by kings without legal authority, first so called under Edward IV in 1473.

benevolence meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

benevolence in Hindi

disposition to do good
हितैषिता hitaiṣitā, हितेच्छा hitecchā

benevolence in Tamil

நன்மை செய்யும் மனப்பாங்கு, நலநாட்டம், நலநிதியம், நல்லுணர்வு

benevolence in Marathi

benevolence, loving-kindness, friendliness
मैत्री maitrī

benevolence in Urdu

benevolence, goodwill, benefaction, beneficence, boon, good deed, goodness
احسان ihsān
More languagesFewer languages
benevolence in Bengali
উপকার upokar, এহসান ehsan
benevolence in Malayalam
ഉദാരമനസ്കത, ദയാശീലം
benevolence in Kannada
ಸಹಾಯ ಮಾಡುವ ಗುಣ, ಪರೋಪಕಾರ
benevolence in Sanskrit
सुम्न sumná, कुशल kúśala, मैत्री maitrī́
benevolence in Arabic
النزعَة إلى الخير

Examples of benevolence in a sentence

  • spirit of benevolence
  • She smiled with benevolence at the children.
  • Benevolence? vvhich ſhall I be benevolent to; or vvhich firſt?1641 or 1642 (first performance), Richard Brome, A Joviall Crew: Or, The Merry Beggars. Presented in a Comedie, […], London: […] J[ames]...

All 15 example sentences with benevolence

Antonyms of benevolence

Forms of benevolence

pluralbenevolences

Origin of benevolence

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).

Words formed from benevolence

Questions about benevolence

What does benevolence mean?
Benevolence means disposition to do good.
What is benevolence in Hindi?
Benevolence in Hindi is हितैषिता (hitaiṣitā), हितेच्छा (hitecchā). See Benevolence meaning in Hindi.
How do you use benevolence in a sentence?
spirit of benevolence
What part of speech is benevolence?
Benevolence is a noun.
How do you pronounce benevolence?
Benevolence is pronounced /bəˈnɛvələns/.
What is the plural of benevolence?
The plural of benevolence is benevolences.

Words near benevolence in the dictionary

  1. Benetts
  2. Beneventan
  3. Beneventana
  4. Beneventans
  5. Benevento
  6. benevolence
  7. benevolences
  8. benevolent
  9. benevolent absolutism
  10. benevolent assimilation
  11. benevolent assimilations

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: benevolence (page history and authors); benevolence (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); मैत्री (Marathi) (page history and authors); احسان (Urdu) (page history and authors); উপকার (Bengali) (page history and authors); benevolence (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); benevolence (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); कुशल (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “benevolence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/benevolence. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.