| n. | 1. | The disposition to do good; good will; charitableness; love of mankind, accompanied with a desire to promote their happiness. |
| 2. | An act of kindness; good done; charity given. | |
| 3. | A species of compulsory contribution or tax, which has sometimes been illegally exacted by arbitrary kings of England, and falsely represented as a gratuity. |
| Noun | 1. | benevolence - disposition to do good Antonyms: malevolence, malignity - wishing evil to others |
| 2. | benevolence - an inclination to do kind or charitable acts | |
| 3. | benevolence - an act intending or showing kindness and good will Synonyms: benefaction |
BENEVOLENCE, duty. The doing a kind action to another, from mere good will, without any legal obligation. It is a moral duty only, and it cannot be enforced by law. A good wan is benevolent to the poor, but no law can compel him to be so.
BENEVOLENCE, English law. An aid given by the subjects to the king under a pretended gratuity, but in realty it was an extortion and imposition.
BOMFOG, Benthamism, Christian charity, Christian love, accommodatingness, act of grace, act of kindness, advantageousness, affability, agape, agreeableness, amiability, amity, auspiciousness, benefaction, beneficence, beneficialness, benefit, benevolent disposition, benevolentness, benignancy, benignity, bigheartedness, blessing, boon, brightness, brotherly love, caritas, charitableness, cheerfulness, cheeriness, class, clemency, cogency, comity, commiseration, compassion, complaisance, compliance, compliment, condolence, condonation, contribution, courtesy, decency, desert, disregard, do-goodism, donation, excellence, expedience, fairness, favor, favorableness, feeling, fineness, first-rateness, flower power, forbearance, forgiveness, forgivingness, fortunateness, friendliness, friendship, generousness, gift, giving, good auspices, good deed, good offices, good omen, good turn, goodliness, goodness, goodwill, grace, graciosity, graciousness, grant, greatheartedness, healthiness, helpfulness, humanitarianism, humanity, indulgence, kind deed, kind offices, kindliness, kindly act, kindness, labor of love, largeheartedness, largess, leniency, long-suffering, longanimity, love, love of mankind, luckiness, manna, mercy, merit, mitigation, mitzvah, niceness, obligation, obligingness, office, overlooking, pardon, pathos, patience, philanthropism, philanthropy, pity, pleasantness, present, profitableness, propitiousness, prosperousness, quality, quarter, relief, reprieve, rewardingness, ruth, self-pity, service, skillfulness, soundness, superiority, sympathy, tolerance, turn, unrevengefulness, unselfishness, usefulness, utilitarianism, validity, value, virtue, virtuousness, welfarism, well-disposedness, wholeness, worth