In some cases a thing is spoken of as bent where the parts make an angle; but oftener to bend is understood to be to draw to or through a curve; as, to bend a bow. To submit or yield is to bend the mind humbly to another's wishes. To incline or influence is to bend another's wishes toward our own; to persuade is to[80] draw them quite over. To warp is to bend silently through the whole fiber, as a board in the sun. To crook is to bend irregularly, as a crooked stick. Deflect, deviate, and diverge are said of any turning away; deviate commonly of a slight and gradual movement, diverge of a more sharp and decided one. To bias is to cut across the texture, or incline to one side; in figurative use always with an unfavorable import. Mold is a stronger work than bend; we may bend by a superior force that which still resists the constraint; as, a bent bow; we mold something plastic entirely to some desired form.

BENEVOLENCE.

Synonyms:

almsgiving,charity,kind-heartedness,munificence,
beneficence,generosity,kindliness,philanthropy,
benignity,good-will,kindness,sympathy,
bounty,humanity,liberality,unselfishness.

According to the etymology and original usage, beneficence is the doing well, benevolence the wishing or willing well to others; but benevolence has come to include beneficence, and to displace it. We should not now speak of benevolence which did not help, unless where there was no power to help; even then we should rather say good-will or sympathy. Charity, which originally meant the purest love for God and man (as in 1 Cor. xiii), is now almost universally applied to some form of almsgiving, and is much more limited in meaning than benevolence. Benignity suggests some occult power of blessing, such as was formerly ascribed to the stars; we may say a good man has an air of benignity. Kindness and tenderness are personal; benevolence and charity are general. Kindness extends to all sentient beings, whether men or animals, in prosperity or in distress. Tenderness especially goes out toward the young, feeble, and needy, or even to the dead. Humanity is so much kindness and tenderness toward man or beast as it would be inhuman not to have; we say of some act of care or kindness, "common humanity requires it." Generosity is self-forgetful kindness in disposition or action; it includes much besides giving; as, the generosity of forgiveness. Bounty applies to ample giving, which on a larger scale is expressed by munificence. Liberality indicates broad, genial kindly views, whether manifested in gifts or otherwise. We speak of the bounty of a generous host, the liberality or munificence of the founder of a college, or of the liberality of a theologian toward the holders of conflicting[81] beliefs. Philanthropy applies to wide schemes for human welfare, often, but not always, involving large expenditures in charity or benevolence. Compare [MERCY].

Antonyms:

barbarity,greediness,ill-will,malignity,self-seeking,
brutality,harshness,inhumanity,niggardliness,stinginess,
churlishness,illiberality,malevolence,selfishness,unkindness.

Prepositions:

Benevolence of, on the part of, or from the wealthy, to or toward the poor.