benevolent

adjective

be·​nev·​o·​lent bə-ˈnev--ˈne-və-lənt 

-ˈnev-

1

a

: marked by or disposed to doing good

a benevolent donor

b

: organized for the purpose of doing good

a benevolent society

2

: marked by or suggestive of goodwill

benevolent smiles

benevolently adverb

benevolentness noun

Did you know?

Benevolent Has a Good History

One who is benevolent genuinely wishes other people well, a meaning reflected clearly in the word's Latin roots: benevolent comes from bene, meaning "good," and velle, meaning "to wish." Other descendants of velle in English include volition, which refers to the power to make one's own choices or decisions, and voluntary, as well as the rare velleity, meaning either "the lowest degree of volition" or "a slight wish or tendency." A more familiar velle descendant stands directly opposed to benevolent: malevolent describes someone or something having or showing a desire to cause harm to another person.

Synonyms

• beneficent
• benignant
• compassionate
• good-hearted
• humane
• kind
• kindhearted
• kindly
• softhearted
• sympathetic
• tender
• tenderhearted
• warmhearted

Examples of benevolent in a Sentence

Trees that size are like whales, sort of benevolent in their huge bulk … —Sebastian Junger, This Old House, March/April 1998

Grandfather sometimes turned on us like a rigged trap, and of course the benevolent gaze of the sage became the glare of the patriarch. —Darryl Pinckney, High Cotton, 1992

A Southern writer is allowed his eccentricities. The prevailing attitude is a kind of benevolent neglect. —Walker Percy, "Why I Live Where I Live," 1980, in Signposts in a Strange Land,  1991

They tore out the windows of the club's simple storefront and bricked them over and left two much smaller windows … so that the look of the club changed from that of a benevolent neighborhood organization to that of a paramilitary one. —"The Talk of the Town," New Yorker,  26 Feb. 1990

a gift from a benevolent donor

He belonged to several benevolent societies and charitable organizations.

Recent Examples on the Web

But land reform is so fundamental to how the current government took power that no citizen may portray it as anything other than a benevolent campaign that brought fairness and prosperity to China’s long-suffering farmers. —Ian Johnson, The Atlantic, 27 Mar. 2025

Analyzing the legendary unicorn tapestries hanging at the Met Cloisters in New York (augmented here by a gory new panel that depicts the suddenly fearsome animals disemboweling and impaling their aggressors), Ridley concludes that unicorns aren’t nearly as benevolent as most people think. —Peter Debruge, Variety, 9 Mar. 2025

But not all those ideas and communities are benevolent. —Aja Romano, Vox, 24 Feb. 2025

Snow White was born into a kingdom on the edge of a forest, where happiness flourishes under the benevolent King (Hadley Fraser) and Queen (Lorena Andrea). —David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 19 Mar. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Middle English, from Latin benevolent-, benevolens, from bene + volent-, volens, present participle of velle to wish — more at will

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Rhymes for benevolent

• malevolent
• prevalent

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Kids Definition

benevolent

adjective

be·​nev·​o·​lent bə-ˈnev(-ə)-lənt 

: having a desire to do good : kindly, charitable

a benevolent organization

benevolently adverb