Harvey Breit
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The English language has benefited from the largesse of Anglo-French, through which a generous number of words have passed; examples range from simple to account to desert. English speakers owe Anglo-French a huge thanks, in particular, for its adjective large. That word, meaning "generous, broad, or wide," is the source of both largesse and the familiar duo of large and enlarge. Most people understand enlarge to mean "to make larger," but a less common sense (used in Shakespeare's Henry V) is "to set free." Largesse also contains the notion of freedom, specifically with regard to a lack of financial constraints: it's not about having a "large" amount of money but rather being "free" with it. Incidentally, the English word large wasn't about size when it was first adopted in the 13th century. Back then it meant "lavish."
Examples of largesse in a Sentence
Boris Muñoz, Time, 3 Apr. 2026
Still, Pakistan is completely or largely dependent on Saudi largesse, and has been for the longest time.
—Isaac Chotiner, New Yorker, 30 Mar. 2026
But the list of who’s getting that largesse — and who is missing out — probably isn’t what anyone would have expected.
—Cristóbal Reyes, The Orlando Sentinel, 29 Mar. 2026
Some say Claude Code, bolstered by Anthropic’s $380 billion largesse, could soon unseat Cursor altogether.
—Matthew Heimer, Fortune, 23 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for largesse
Cite this Entry
“Largesse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/largesse. Accessed 5 Apr. 2026.
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