Word.ws English Dictionary

eleemosynary

UK/ˌɛl.ɪ.iːˈmɒ.sɪ.nə.ɹi//ˌɛl.ɪˈmɑː.sə.nɛɹ.i/

eleemosynary adjective: relating to charity, alms, or almsgiving.

Adjective

eleemosynary (comparative more eleemosynary, superlative most eleemosynary)

  1. Relating to charity, alms, or almsgiving.
    • I am bound to say he didn't criticise his benefactors, though practically he got tired of them; she, however, had the highest standards about eleemosynary forms.1894, Henry James, The Coxon Fund
    • He did some work for the New York Public Library . . . and also dabbled in eleemosynary science for the Russell Sage Foundation.1918, Christopher Morley, “Owd Bob”, in Mince Pie
  2. Given in charity or alms; having the nature of alms
    • An author ought to consider himself, not as a gentleman who gives a private or eleemosynary treat, but rather as one who keeps a public ordinary, at which all persons are welcome for their money.1749, Henry Fielding, chapter I, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book I
    • His spirited refusal of an eleemosynary supply of shoes, arose, no doubt, from a proper pride.1791, James Boswell, Life of Johnson, Aetat. 22
  3. Supported by charity
    • ... it is also true that the policy of nations, or the bounty of individuals, formerly did much to counteract the effect of this limitation of competition, by offering eleemosynary instruction to a much larger class of persons than could have obtained the same advantages by paying their price.1871, John Stuart Mill, Principles of Political Economy, p. 482
    • [The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution] set the State up as the largest eleemosynary institution in the history of the world.1959, Frank Chodorov, The Rise and Fall of Society, Devin-Adair, Chapter 14, page 143

Noun

eleemosynary (plural eleemosynaries)

  1. (obsolete) A beggar

eleemosynary meaning in Bengali

eleemosynary in Bengali

দাতব্য

Synonyms of eleemosynary

Forms of eleemosynary

Adjective
comparativemore eleemosynary
superlativemost eleemosynary
alternative formeleëmosynary
Noun
pluraleleemosynaries

Origin of eleemosynary

From Medieval Latin eleēmosynārius (“alms dispenser”), from Late Latin eleēmosyna (“alms”), from Ancient Greek ἐλεημοσύνη (eleēmosúnē, “alms”), from ἐλεήμων (eleḗmōn, “merciful”) + -σῠ́νη (-sŭ́nē, “suffix denoting an abstract noun”). Compare Italian elemosina.

Words formed from eleemosynary

Phrases with eleemosynary

Questions about eleemosynary

What does eleemosynary mean?
Eleemosynary means relating to charity, alms, or almsgiving.
What is eleemosynary in Bengali?
Eleemosynary in Bengali is দাতব্য. See Eleemosynary meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is eleemosynary?
Eleemosynary can be an adjective or a noun.
How do you pronounce eleemosynary?
Eleemosynary is pronounced /ˌɛl.ɪ.iːˈmɒ.sɪ.nə.ɹi/ (UK).

Words near eleemosynary in the dictionary

  1. eleemosynar
  2. eleemosynaries
  3. eleemosynarily
  4. eleemosynariness
  5. eleemosynars
  6. eleemosynary
  7. eleemosynary corporation
  8. eleemosynary corporations
  9. eleemosynous
  10. eleet
  11. Elefen

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: eleemosynary (page history and authors); eleemosynary (Bengali Wiktionary) (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-eleemosynary.ogg.

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