Crossword clues for benevolent
benevolent
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Benevolent \Be*nev"o*lent\, a. [L. benevolens, -entis; bene well (adv. of bonus good) + volens, p. pr. of volo I will, I wish. See Bounty, and Voluntary.] Having a disposition to do good; possessing or manifesting love to mankind, and a desire to promote their prosperity and happiness; disposed to give to good objects; kind; charitable. -- Be*nev"o*lent*ly, adv.
Syn: Benevolent, Beneficent.
Usage: Etymologically considered, benevolent implies wishing well to others, and beneficent, doing well. But by degrees the word benevolent has been widened to include not only feelings, but actions; thus, we speak of benevolent operations, benevolent labors for the public good, benevolent societies. In like manner, beneficent is now often applied to feelings; thus, we speak of the beneficent intentions of a donor. This extension of the terms enables us to mark nicer shades of meaning. Thus, the phrase ``benevolent labors'' turns attention to the source of these labors, viz., benevolent feeling; while beneficent would simply mark them as productive of good. So, ``beneficent intentions'' point to the feelings of the donor as bent upon some specific good act; while ``benevolent intentions'' would only denote a general wish and design to do good.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
mid-15c., "wishing to do good, kindly," from Middle French benivolent and directly from Latin benevolentem (nominative benevolens) "wishing (someone) well, benevolent," related to benevolentia "good feeling" (see benevolence). Related: Benevolently.
Wiktionary
a. 1 Having a disposition to do good. 2 Possessing or manifesting love for mankind. 3 altruistic, charitable, good, just and fair. 4 generous.
WordNet
adj. doing or producing good [syn: beneficent, gracious]
intending or showing kindness; "a benevolent society"
having or showing or arising from a desire to promote the welfare or happiness of others; "his benevolent smile"; "a benevolent nature" [syn: good] [ant: malevolent]
generous in providing aid to others [syn: freehearted]
generous in assistance to the poor; "a benevolent contributor"; "eleemosynary relief"; "philanthropic contributions" [syn: beneficent, eleemosynary, philanthropic]
Wikipedia
Benevolent is an extreme/ experimental metal band formed in 2007 by Lebanese brothers Hadi and Fadi Sarieddine. Formerly based in Kuwait, the band is now UAE-based.
Usage examples of "benevolent".
Patterne Port kept Dr Middleton in a benevolent reserve when Willoughby decided that something said by De Craye was not new, and laughingly accused him of failing to consult his anecdotal notebook for the double-cross to his last sprightly sally.
My speech must have rather astonished him, but he knew that my disposition was benevolent, and he could not help giving me his hand and his pledge.
With a thought, he commanded the doors to the aviary to close silently behind him as he followed his eccentric but benevolent tormentor.
I stroked it with my ring finger, were each overlaid by the inventories of a benevolent technologythe moulded binnacle of the instrument dials, the jutting carapace of the steering column shroud, the extravagant pistol grip of the handbrake.
If the Nebraska Bill is the real author of the benevolent works, it is rather deplorable that it has for so long a time ceased working altogether.
Nereide had traversed the country in all directions, doing no harm to private property, paying for whatever they needed, treating the private Mauritians civilly, and routing all the meagre troops that the southern commander could bring against them, the attitude of the militia came more to resemble a neutrality, and a benevolent neutrality at that.
The rest, including Clocker, waited as an aging man in a white lab smock, heavy-rimmed eyeglasses and smooth pink cheeks, looking like a benevolent doctor in a mouthwash ad, stood up and faced the crowd.
Sir Willoughby glanced at Dehors with his customary benevolent irony in speaking of the persons, great in their way, who served him.
By a single edict, he reduced the palace of Constantinople to an immense desert, and dismissed with ignominy the whole train of slaves and dependants, without providing any just, or at least benevolent, exceptions, for the age, the services, or the poverty, of the faithful domestics of the Imperial family.
Each day at noon he went to the office of the Clerk of the Acts, the senior dragoman in the city and the head of their benevolent association, whose job it was to advise apprentices and distribute assignments.
Miss Giggs made her usual excuse of wanting to work when the Warden inquired, gazing like a benevolent snake at the assembled students on the Saturday evening preceding the half-term weekend, how many of them proposed to remain in Hall, but in her case, as in the case of Miss Mathers, it was a question of a heavy railway fare.
Mounting the stairs, Gower was moved to let fall a benevolent look on the worried son of fortune.
Beneath its hyacinthine curls it beamed on him with a fixed benevolent smile.
On the wall above the bed hung a portrait of the late King Alsen, sceptred, official, and benevolent.
The culprit turned out to be the most benevolent source of all: squalene, an extract of shark liver oil, with which U.