Beneficent — Meaning, Definition & Synonyms

Beneficent (adjective) — Senses, Synonyms & Antonyms

1. having or marked by sympathy and consideration for others

   "a beneficent couple who are regular volunteers at a homeless shelter"

   similar: benevolent, benignant, compassionate, good-hearted, humane, kind, kindhearted, kindly, softhearted, sympathetic, tender, tenderhearted, warmhearted
   related: attentive, considerate, solicitous, thoughtful, affable, amicable, benign, companionable, comradely, cordial, friendly, genial, gentle, good, good-natured, good-tempered, gracious, mild, neighborly, nice, pleasant, sweet, warm, clement, forbearing, forgiving, lenient, merciful, soft, patient, pitying, tolerant, understanding, altruistic, brotherly, charitable, freehanded, generous, greathearted, humanitarian, liberal, magnanimous, munificent, noble, openhearted, philanthropic, selfless, unselfish, unsparing, anticruelty, cruelty-free
   opposite: atrocious, barbaric, barbarous, bestial, brutal, brute, brutish, callous, cold-blooded, cruel, fiendish, hard-hearted, heartless, inhuman, inhumane, insensate, sadistic, savage, truculent, uncompassionate, unfeeling, unkind, unkindly, unsympathetic, vicious, wanton
   near: ironhearted, merciless, pitiless, ruthless, stonyhearted, inconsiderate, insensitive, thoughtless, uncaring, unthinking, grim, hard-boiled, harsh, heavy-handed, severe, stern, tough, unsentimental, hateful, malevolent, malicious, malign, malignant, mean, nasty, spiteful, virulent, antihumanitarian, uncharitable

2. having or showing a concern for the welfare of others

   "a beneficent effort to help out the needy during the holidays"

   similar: altruistic, benevolent, charitable, do-good, eleemosynary, good, humanitarian, philanthropic
   related: selfless, self-sacrificing, bighearted, bounteous, bountiful, free, freehanded, generous, greathearted, handsome, liberal, magnanimous, munificent, openhanded, openhearted, unselfish, unsparing, compassionate, humane, kind, kindhearted, social-minded
   opposite: self-centered, self-concerned, selfish
   near: self-indulgent, self-seeking, cheap, closefisted, miserly, parsimonious, stingy, tight, tightfisted, hard-hearted, pitiless, unfeeling, self-obsessed

3. promoting or contributing to personal or social well-being

   "cultural activities have a beneficent effect on a community that can't be measured in dollars and cents"

   similar: advantageous, benefic, beneficial, benignant, favorable, friendly, good, helpful, kindly, profitable, salutary
   related: gratifying, rewarding, satisfying, auspicious, promising, propitious, advisable, desirable, healthful, healthy, salubrious, salutiferous, wholesome, gainful, lucrative, remunerative, ameliorative, amelioratory, bettering, constructive, supportive
   opposite: bad, disadvantageous, unfavorable, unfriendly, unhelpful, unprofitable
   near: damaging, deleterious, harmful, injurious, insalubrious