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Webster 1913 Edition


Welfare

Wel′fareˊ

,
Noun.
[
Well
+
fare
to go, to proceed, to happen.]
Well-doing or well-being in any respect; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life; exemption from any evil or calamity; prosperity; happiness.
How to study for the people’s
welfare
.
Shakespeare
In whose deep eyes
Men read the
welfare
of the times to come.
Emerson.

Webster 1828 Edition


Welfare

WELFARE

,
Noun.
[well and fare, a good faring; G.]
1.
Exemption from misfortune, sickness, calamity or evil; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life; prosperity; happiness; applied to persons.
2.
Exemption from any unusual evil or calamity; the enjoyment of peace and prosperity, or the ordinary blessings of society and civil government; applied to states.

Definition 2024


welfare

welfare

English

Noun

welfare (countable and uncountable, plural welfares)

  1. (uncountable) Health, safety, happiness and prosperity; well-being in any respect.
    • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 19, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
      Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.
  2. (uncountable, chiefly US) Various forms of financial aid provided by the government to those who are in need of it (abbreviated form of Welfare assistance).

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

welfare (third-person singular simple present welfares, present participle welfaring, simple past and past participle welfared)

  1. (transitive) To provide with welfare or aid.
    welfaring the poor

See also


Italian

Noun

welfare m (invariable)

  1. welfare state