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Webster 1913 Edition


Generosity

Genˊer-os′i-ty

,
Noun.
[L.
generositas
: cf. F.
générosité
.]
1.
Noble birth.
[Obs.]
Harris (Voyages).
2.
The quality of being noble; noble-mindedness.
Generosity
is in nothing more seen than in a candid estimation of other men’s virtues and good qualities.
Barrow.
Syn. – Magnanimity; liberality.

Webster 1828 Edition


Generosity

GENEROS'ITY

,
Noun.
[L. generositas, from genus, race, kind, with reference to birth, blood, family.]
1.
The quality of being generous; liberality in principle; a disposition to give liberally or to bestow favors; a quality of the heart or mind opposed to meanness or parsimony.
2.
Liberality in act; bounty.
3.
Nobleness of soul; magnanimity. [This is the primary sense, but is now little used.]

Definition 2024


generosity

generosity

English

Noun

generosity (countable and uncountable, plural generosities)

  1. (uncountable) The trait of being willing to donate money and/or time.
    • 1963: Erik H. Erikson, Childhood and Society
      We have mentioned generosity as an outstanding virtue required in Sioux life.
  2. (uncountable) Acting generously.
    • 2013 June 14, Jonathan Freedland, Obama's once hip brand is now tainted”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 1, page 18:
      Now we are liberal with our innermost secrets, spraying them into the public ether with a generosity our forebears could not have imagined. Where we once sent love letters in a sealed envelope, or stuck photographs of our children in a family album, now such private material is despatched to servers and clouds operated by people we don't know and will never meet.
  3. (uncountable) The trait of being abundant, more than adequate.
  4. (literally uncountable) Good breeding; nobility of stock.
  5. (countable) A generous act.
    • 1873: Reverend M. C. Tyler, Proceedings at the Laying of the Corner Stone of the Sage College of the Cornell University
      May the generosities of the founders of these halls, be rewarded by the fair and holy characters which shall be here formed [] .

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