- Comment
- Love
Word of the Day : July 10, 2018
benevolent \buh-NEV-uh-lunt\ adjective
Definition
1 a : marked by or disposed to doing good
b : organized for the purpose of doing good
2 : marked by or suggestive of goodwill
Did You Know?
Someone who is benevolent genuinely wishes other people well, which is not surprising if you know the word's history. Benevolent can be traced back to Latin bene, meaning "good," and velle, meaning "to wish." Other descendants of velle in English include volition ("the act or power of making one's choices or decisions"), voluntary, and the rare word velleity (meaning either "the lowest degree of volition" or "a slight wish or tendency"). There is also one more familiar velle descendant: malevolent is the antonym of benevolent, and describes one who is disposed to doing ill instead of good.
Build your vocabulary! Get Word of the Day in your inbox every day.
Test Your Vocabulary
Who Knew?
What is a ruelle?
a second mother-in-law
the space between a bed and the wall
a pillow for one’s elbow
a week and a day
Test your vocabulary with our 10-question quiz!
TAKE THE QUIZ
Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.
TAKE THE QUIZ
Aired July 10, 2018
All Merriam-Webster content is available at www.merriam-webster.com
- Recommended Recommended
- History & In Progress History
- Browse Library
- Most Popular Library
Get Personalized Recommendations
Let us help you figure out what to learn! By taking a short interview you’ll be able to specify your learning interests and goals, so we can recommend the perfect courses and lessons to try next.
Start InterviewYou don't have any lessons in your history.
Just find something that looks interesting and start learning!