different between benevolence vs charitableness

English

Etymology

Circa 1400, original sense “good will, disposition to do good”, Old French benivolence from Latin benevolentia (also directly from Latin), literally “good will”, from bene (“well, good”) + volentia, form of vol?ns, form of vol? (“I wish”), components cognate to English benefit and voluntary, more distantly will (via Proto-Indo-European).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b??n?v?l?ns/

Noun

benevolence (countable and uncountable, plural benevolences)

1. (uncountable) Disposition to do good.
2. (uncountable) Charitable kindness.
3. (countable) An altruistic gift or act.
4. (Britain, historical) A kind of forced loan or contribution levied by kings without legal authority, first so called under Edward IV in 1473.

Related terms

Translations

References

English

Etymology

charitable +? -ness

Noun

charitableness (usually uncountable, plural charitablenesses)

1. (uncountable) The quality of being charitable.
   • 1840 The Autobiography of Leigh Hunt: with reminiscences of friends and contemporaries

     The reader has seen, that my mother, notwithstanding her charitableness to the poor maid-servant, was a woman of strict morals.

2. (rare, countable) A particular kind or instance of this quality.
   • 1947, in The New Era in Home and School, volume 28, page 66:

     But when the service of truth and the public good command, there are certain scruples which are immoral and certain charitablenesses which are dangerous.

Synonyms

• charitability