benefactor

noun

ben·​e·​fac·​tor ˈbe-nə-ˌfak-tər 

: someone or something that provides help or an advantage : one that confers a benefit

a benefactor of humankind

especially : a person who makes a gift or bequest

His endowments … placed him high among the benefactors of the convent.

—Jane Austen

a wealthy benefactor

Did you know?

A benefactor may be involved in almost any field. One may endow a scholarship fund; another may give money to expand a library; still another may leave a generous sum to a hospital in her will. The famous benefactions of John D. Rockefeller included the gifts that established the University of Chicago, the Rockefeller Foundation, and Rockefeller University. Many benefactors have reported that giving away their money turned out to be the most rewarding thing they ever did.

Synonyms of benefactor

• donor
• donator

Examples of benefactor in a Sentence

With the help of a rich benefactor he set up a charity.

an anonymous benefactor gave the school a dozen new computers

Recent Examples on the Web

Additionally, these revenue-sharing numbers don’t include third-party NIL payments, which can provide a significant advantage to schools with a large alumni base — or with wealthy benefactors, which has been the case at Oregon (Phil Knight) and Indiana (Mark Cuban), for instance. —Shaun Goodwin, Idaho Statesman, 27 Feb. 2026

PragerU has received major funding from hard-right benefactors, including Betsy DeVos’s family foundation and the billionaire fracking brothers Dan and Farris Wilks. —Jessica Winter, New Yorker, 27 Feb. 2026

The pompous clergyman enters the life of the Bennet family, his distant cousins, with the assumption that, given his respectable position and benefactor, Lady Catherine De Bourgh, one of those daughters would be happy to marry him. —Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 26 Feb. 2026

McFarlane said the La Jolla Historical Society will continue to play a guiding role and be a benefactor of the festival. —Noah Lyons, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

15th century, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for benefactor

• chiropractor
• malefactor
• multifactor
• subcontractor
• acter
• actor
• factor
• tractor
• attractor
• cofactor
• compactor
• contactor

Kids Definition

benefactor

noun

bene·​fac·​tor

ˈben-ə-ˌfak-tər

: one who helps another especially by giving money