beneficent

adjective

be·​nef·​i·​cent bə-ˈne-fə-sənt How to pronounce beneficent (audio)
1
: doing or producing good
a beneficent policy
especially : performing acts of kindness and charity
a beneficent leader
2
: beneficial
beneficent bacteria
beneficently adverb

Examples of beneficent in a Sentence

a humane and beneficent policy a beneficent couple who are regular volunteers at a homeless shelter
Recent Examples on the Web Akbar, his beneficent Creator, hears his prayer and gives him the apocalypse, replete with wild horses, smoke, and flowers raining from the sky. Katy Waldman, The New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2024 Its implicit arguments—that IP rights won’t present problems for meeting global demand or ensuring equitable access, and that they must be protected, even during a pandemic—carried the enormous weight of Gates’s reputation as a wise, beneficent, and prophetic leader. Alexander Zaitchik, The New Republic, 12 Apr. 2021 With his properties’ trolleys and holiday extravaganzas, Caruso already plays the beneficent administrator of popular yet privatized public spaces where the discomfiting realities of contemporary local life — protests, homelessness, crime — aren’t allowed to exist. Gary Baum, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Feb. 2022 Both groups eventually end up in the same place: Bisoyn’s headquarters in Italy’s remote Dolomite Mountains, trying to escape the wrath of the dinosaurs while dispensing messages about respecting the power of nature and being suspicious of seemingly beneficent corporations along the way. cleveland, 8 June 2022 Garner the Grammarian Chatting about ChatGPT Like any other technology, chatbots will be used by the maleficent for wicked purposes; they’ll be used by the beneficent for noble purposes. David Harsanyi, National Review, 16 Mar. 2023 Oh no, the world is suddenly a-flush with inventive, moral, empathetic, charming, attractive and beneficent people! Kyle Munkittrick, Discover Magazine, 22 Feb. 2011 His world will have become a more beneficent co-creation. Joshua Rothman, The New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2022 Visitors to Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York, in the early 1900s could pay a quarter to see incredibly tiny premature infants on display in some of the earliest incubators in a beneficent sideshow attraction. Katherine Harmon Courage, Smithsonian Magazine, 12 Sep. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'beneficent.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

back-formation from beneficence

First Known Use

circa 1616, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of beneficent was circa 1616

Dictionary Entries Near beneficent

Cite this Entry

“Beneficent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beneficent. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

beneficent

adjective
be·​nef·​i·​cent bə-ˈnef-ə-sənt How to pronounce beneficent (audio)
: doing or producing good
especially : performing acts of kindness or charity
beneficently adverb

More from Merriam-Webster on beneficent

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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