goodwill

Syllables: good·will/ˌɡʊdˈwɪl/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

British/ˌɡɵdˈwɪl/

goodwill noun: a favorably disposed attitude toward someone or something.

Noun (1)

goodwill (usually uncountable, plural goodwills)

(usually) A favorably disposed attitude toward someone or something.

Synonyms:

benevolence
(usually) The value of a business entity not directly attributable to its tangible assets and liabilities, deriving from factors such as consumer loyalty to the brand.
(usually) The ability of an individual or business to exert influence within a community, club, market or another type of group, without having to resort to the use of an asset (such as money or property), either directly or by the creation of a lien.
(usually, trade unionism) The willingness of a worker to perform activities not strictly within the scope of the employment contract and not just work to rule.
- As Denning MR said in Secretary of State for Employment v ASLEF (No. 2) (1972): 'a man is not bound to do more for his employer than his contract requires. He can withdraw his goodwill if he pleases.'2007 [1972], John Duddington, quoting Tom Denning, Baron Denning, Employment Law, Pearson Education, →ISBN, page 101
- The downside of this cost-saving strategy was that the train service could only be covered by goodwill. Whenever there was a spat between ASLEF and management - regardless of cause - the withdrawal of this goodwill became a stick with which unions could beat management.2022 November 16, Graham Eccles, “The Rest Day Working saga...”, in RAIL, number 970, page 32
(Canada, US, capitalized, countable, uncommon, usually) A thrift shop.
- Buy from goodwills, garage sales, friends, and neighbors. Choose beautiful, functional, durable items made by craftspeople.1990, Karen Christensen, Home Ecology: Simple and Practical Ways to Green Your Home, Fulcrum Publishing, page 65
- Eventually she made her way onto a train, disguised in a wig and wheeling a pram complete with lifelike baby doll, just purchased from a goodwill store. Everyone seemed to want to look at 'her baby' and she had to pull the blankets over it as far as they would go or suspicions would have been...2008, Esther Carney, Avenging Angel, zeus, →ISBN, page 445

Verb

goodwill (third-person singular simple present goodwills, present participle goodwilling, simple past and past participle goodwilled)

(transitive) To voluntarily provide or cover some or all of the cost of (something) to maintain goodwill.
- The company goodwilled the cost of the repairs.

Noun (2) capitalized: Goodwill

Goodwill (plural Goodwills)

Alternative letter-case form of goodwill (“thrift shop”).

Proper noun capitalized: Goodwill

Goodwill (plural Goodwills)

A surname.
A suburb of Roseau, Dominica.
A Free Village in Saint James Parish, Jamaica.
An unincorporated community in Worcester County, Maryland, United States.
An unincorporated community in Mercer County, West Virginia, United States, named after one Mr. Goodwill, the proprietor of a local mine.

goodwill meaning in Hindi and Tagalog

goodwill in Hindi

favorably disposed attitude: सौहार्द sauhārd, सद्भाव sadbhāv, हितैषिता hitaiṣitā, हितेच्छा hitecchā

goodwill in Tagalog

favorably disposed attitude: mabuting kalooban

Examples of goodwill in a sentence

Eventually she made her way onto a train, disguised in a wig and wheeling a pram complete with lifelike baby doll, just purchased from a goodwill store.2008, Esther Carney, Avenging Angel, zeus, →ISBN, page 445:
And I got tired of mom buying me used clothes from a goodwill store.2025 January 7, Robert Garcia, Died Three Times Lived Once, AuthorHouse, →ISBN:

All 19 example sentences with goodwill

Synonyms of goodwill

benevolence

Antonyms

ill will

Forms of goodwill

Noun
plural	goodwills
plural	Goodwills
alternative form (dated)	good-will
Verb
third-person singular present	goodwills
present participle	goodwilling
past participle	goodwilled
past	goodwilled
Proper noun
plural	Goodwills

Origin of goodwill

From Middle English *goodwille, good wille, possibly from Old English *gōdwille (compare gōdwillende (“well-pleased”)). Compare also Scots guidwilly, guidwillie (“displaying goodwill”). By surface analysis, good + will. Cognate with Scots guidwill (“goodwill”), Middle Low German gūtwille (“goodwill”), Old High German guotwilligi (“goodwill”), Old Danish godvilje (“goodwill”), Icelandic góðvilji, góðvili (“goodwill”), Icelandic góðvild (“goodness”). The sense "thrift shop" is a genericized trademark of the US-based chain Goodwill Industries.

Words formed from goodwill

Phrases with goodwill

goodwill ambassadors

Words that rhyme with goodwill

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about goodwill

What does goodwill mean?: Goodwill means a favorably disposed attitude toward someone or something.
What is goodwill in Hindi?: Goodwill in Hindi is सौहार्द (sauhārd), सद्भाव (sadbhāv), हितैषिता (hitaiṣitā). See Goodwill meaning in Hindi.
How do you use goodwill in a sentence?: Eventually she made her way onto a train, disguised in a wig and wheeling a pram complete with lifelike baby doll, just purchased from a goodwill store.
What part of speech is goodwill?: Goodwill can be a noun, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce goodwill?: Goodwill is pronounced /ˌɡʊdˈwɪl/ (UK).
What is the plural of goodwill?: The plural of goodwill is goodwills.

Words near goodwill in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: goodwill (page history and authors); Goodwill (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-goodwill.wav.

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