different between generous vs rich

English

Etymology

From Middle French genereux, and its source, Latin gener?sus (“of noble birth”), from genus (“race, stock”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /?d??n(?)??s/

Adjective

generous (comparative more generous, superlative most generous)

1. Noble in behaviour or actions; principled, not petty; kind, magnanimous. [from 16th c.]

   Thank you for your generous words.

2. Willing to give and share unsparingly; showing a readiness to give more (especially money) than is expected or needed. [from 17th c.]

   She's been extremely generous with her winnings.

3. Large, more than ample, copious. [from 17th c.]

   Add a generous helping of mayonnaise.

4. Invigorating in its nature.

   a generous wine

5. (obsolete) Of noble birth. [16th-19th c.]

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:generous

Related terms

• generosity

Translations

English

Etymology

From Middle English riche (“strong, powerful, rich”), from Old English r??e (“powerful, mighty, great, high-ranking, rich, wealthy, strong, potent”), from Proto-West Germanic *r?k?, from from Proto-Germanic *r?kijaz (“powerful, rich”), from Proto-Celtic *r?xs (“king”), from Proto-Indo-European *h?re?- (“to straighten, direct, make right”).

Cognate with Scots rik (“mighty, great, noble, rich”), Saterland Frisian riek (“rich”), West Frisian ryk (“rich”), Dutch rijk (“rich”), German reich (“rich”), Danish rig (“rich”), Icelandic ríkur (“rich”), Norwegian and Swedish rik (“rich”). The Middle English word was reinforced by Old French riche, borrowed from the same Proto-Germanic root.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??t??/
• Hyphenation: rich
• Rhymes: -?t?

Adjective

rich (comparative richer, superlative richest)

1. Wealthy: having a lot of money and possessions.
2. Having an intense fatty or sugary flavour.
   • 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka (republished by Eland, 2019; p. 116):

     It is the richest food I have ever eaten, and for this reason I soon learned to partake of it sparingly.

   • 1709-1710, Thomas Baker, Reflections on Learning

     High sauces and rich spices are fetch'd from the Indies.

3. Plentiful, abounding, abundant, fulfilling.
   • 1707, Nicholas Rowe, The Royal Convert

     Tho' my Date of mortal Life be short, it shall be glorious; / Each minute shall be rich in some great action.
4. Yielding large returns; productive or fertile; fruitful.

5. Composed of valuable or costly materials or ingredients; procured at great outlay; highly valued; precious; sumptuous; costly.
6. Not faint or delicate; vivid.

7. (informal) Very amusing.

8. (informal) Ridiculous, absurd, outrageous, preposterous, especially in a galling, hypocritical, or brazen way.
   • 1858, William Brown (of Montreal), The Commercial Crisis: Its Cause and Cure (page 28)

     Now, if money be a marketable commodity like flour, as the Witness states, is it not rather a rich idea that of selling the use of a barrel of flour instead of the barrel of flour itself?
9. (computing) Elaborate, having complex formatting, multimedia, or depth of interaction.
   • 2003, Patricia Cardoza, Patricia DiGiacomo, Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2003

     Some rich text email messages contain formatting information that's best viewed with Microsoft Word.

   • 2008, Aaron Newman, Adam Steinberg, Jeremy Thomas, Enterprise 2.0 Implementation

     But what did matter was that the new web platform provided a rich experience.

10. Of a fuel-air mixture, having less air than is necessary to burn all of the fuel; less air- or oxygen- rich than necessary for a stoichiometric reaction.
11. (finance) Trading at a price level which is high relative to historical trends, a similar asset, or (for derivatives) a theoretical value.

Noun

rich pl (plural only)

1. (Plural) People with a lot of money or property

Synonyms

• (wealthy): wealthy, well off, see also Thesaurus:wealthy

Antonyms

• (wealthy): poor; see also Thesaurus:impoverished
• (plentiful): needy
• (computing): plain, unformatted, vanilla
• (fuel-air mixture): lean
• (financial markets): cheap

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Verb

rich (third-person singular simple present riches, present participle riching, simple past and past participle riched)

1. (obsolete, transitive) To enrich.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Gower to this entry?)
2. (obsolete, intransitive) To become rich.

References

• rich at OneLook Dictionary Search
• rich in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• chir-