The DICT Development Group
4 definitions found
for generous
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :
Generous \Gen"er*ous\, a. [F. g['e]n['e]reux, fr. L. generous of
noble birth, noble, excellent, magnanimous, fr. genus birth,
race: cf. It. generoso. See 2d Gender.]
[1913 Webster]
1. Of honorable birth or origin; highborn. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
The generous and gravest citizens. --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. Exhibiting those qualities which are popularly reregarded
as belonging to high birth; noble; honorable; magnanimous;
spirited; courageous. "The generous critic." --Pope. "His
generous spouse." --Pope. "A generous pack [of hounds]."
--Addison.
[1913 Webster]
3. Open-handed; free to give; not close or niggardly;
munificent; as, a generous friend or father.
[1913 Webster]
4. Characterized by generosity; abundant; overflowing; as, a
generous table. --Swift.
[1913 Webster]
5. Full of spirit or strength; stimulating; exalting; as,
generous wine.
Syn: Magnanimous; bountiful. See Liberal. --
Gen"er*ous*ly, adv. -- Gen"er*ous*ness, n.
[1913 Webster]
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) :
generous
adj 1: willing to give and share unstintingly; "a generous
donation" [ant: stingy, ungenerous]
2: not petty in character and mind; "unusually generous in his
judgment of people" [ant: meanspirited, ungenerous]
3: more than adequate; "a generous portion"
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :
183 Moby Thesaurus words for "generous":
abounding, abundant, accommodating, affable, affluent, agreeable,
all-sufficing, almsgiving, altruistic, amiable, ample, aplenty,
beneficent, benevolent, benign, benignant, big, bighearted,
blooming, bottomless, bounteous, bountiful, broad, bursting,
bursting out, capacious, charitable, chivalrous, complaisant,
compliant, comprehensive, conciliatory, considerate, copious,
cordial, countless, creative, decent, diffuse, disinterested,
effuse, eleemosynary, elevated, epidemic, exalted, exhaustless,
expansive, extensive, extravagant, exuberant, fair, fat, fecund,
fertile, flourishing, flush, forbearant, forbearing, forgiving,
free, freehanded, freehearted, friendly, fructiferous, fruitful,
full, galore, genial, giving, good, gracious, great,
great of heart, greathearted, handsome, hearty, helpful, heroic,
high, high-minded, honest, hospitable, humane, humanitarian,
idealistic, in plenty, in quantity, indulgent, inexhaustible, kind,
kindhearted, kindly, knightly, large, largehearted, lavish,
lenient, liberal, lofty, long-suffering, longanimous, lush,
luxuriant, magnanimous, many, maximal, much, multitudinous,
munificent, neighborly, noble, noble-minded, numerous, obliging,
open, open-handed, openhanded, openhearted, opulent, overflowing,
overindulgent, overpermissive, patient, permissive, philanthropic,
placable, plenitudinous, plenteous, plentiful, plenty, pregnant,
prevailing, prevalent, princely, prodigal, productive, profuse,
profusive, proliferous, prolific, rampant, receptive, replete,
rich, rife, riotous, running over, seminal, spacious, sparing,
stintless, sublime, superabundant, swarming, teeming, thoughtful,
thriving, tolerant, tolerating, uberous, ungrudging, unprejudiced,
unresentful, unrevengeful, unselfish, unsparing, unstinted,
unstinting, voluminous, warm, warmhearted, wealthy, welcoming,
welfare, welfare statist, welfarist, well-found, well-furnished,
well-provided, well-stocked, wholesale, wide, willing
From The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906) :
GENEROUS, adj. Originally this word meant noble by birth and was
rightly applied to a great multitude of persons. It now means noble
by nature and is taking a bit of a rest.
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