benevolent
adjective
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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.
Examples of benevolent in a Sentence
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.
Unnati Ashar, Space.com, 2 July 2025
Seven, a unity in seeking a sound, fair, and benevolent immigration reform is prompted by economic interest as well.
—Timothy Cardinal Dolan, New York Daily News, 2 July 2025
The boys play benevolent Nathan Fielder types helping their friend Karli rehearse an upcoming appearance on the popular social-media show SubwayTakes; the prompts she’s presented with in their VR simulator offer a perfect place to nest jokes.
—Hershal Pandya, Vulture, 26 June 2025
Murals across Iran feature his seemingly benevolent white-bearded face.
—Steve Inskeep, NPR, 25 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for benevolent
Cite this Entry
“Benevolent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/benevolent. Accessed 18 Jul. 2025.
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benevolent
adjective
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