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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Benevolent \Be*nev"o*lent\, adjective [L. benevolens, -entis; bene well (adv. of bonus good) + volens, p. pr. of volo I will, I wish. See {Bounty}, and {Voluntary}.] Having a disposition to do good; possessing or manifesting love to mankind, and a desire to promote their prosperity and happiness; disposed to give to good objects; kind; charitable. -- {Be*nev"o*lent*ly}, adverb
Syn: {Benevolent}, {Beneficent}.
Usage: Etymologically considered, benevolent implies wishing well to others, and beneficent, doing well. But by degrees the word benevolent has been widened to include not only feelings, but actions; thus, we speak of benevolent operations, benevolent labors for the public good, benevolent societies. In like manner, beneficent is now often applied to feelings; thus, we speak of the beneficent intentions of a donor. This extension of the terms enables us to mark nicer shades of meaning. Thus, the phrase ''benevolent labors'' turns attention to the source of these labors, viz., benevolent feeling; while beneficent would simply mark them as productive of good. So, ''beneficent intentions'' point to the feelings of the donor as bent upon some specific good act; while ''benevolent intentions'' would only denote a general wish and design to do good.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
benevolent
adjective
1: doing or producing good [syn: {beneficent}, {gracious}]
2: intending or showing kindness; "a benevolent society"
3: having or showing or arising from a desire to promote the welfare or happiness of others; "his benevolent smile"; "a benevolent nature" [syn: {good}] [ant: {malevolent}]
4: generous in providing aid to others [syn: {freehearted}]
5: generous in assistance to the poor; "a benevolent contributor"; "eleemosynary relief"; "philanthropic contributions" [syn: {beneficent}, {eleemosynary}, {philanthropic}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
108 Moby Thesaurus words for "benevolent": accommodating, advantageous, affable, agreeable, almsgiving, altruistic, amiable, amicable, auspicious, beneficent, beneficial, benign, benignant, big, bighearted, bon, bonny, braw, bueno, capital, caring, charitable, chivalrous, cogent, commendable, compassionate, complaisant, compliant, conciliatory, considerate, cooperative, decent, eleemosynary, elegant, estimable, excellent, expedient, fair, famous, favorable, fine, forbearing, forgiving, freehearted, friendly, generous, good, goodly, gracious, grand, greathearted, healthy, helpful, humane, humanitarian, indulgent, kind, kindly, kindly-disposed, largehearted, laudable, liberal, lofty, long-suffering, longanimous, magnanimous, neighborly, nice, noble, obliging, open-handed, openhanded, overindulgent, overpermissive, patient, permissive, philanthropic, placable, pleasant, profitable, propitious, public-spirited, regal, royal, salutary, skillful, sound, sparing, splendid, sympathetic, tenderhearted, thoughtful, tolerant, unresentful, unrevengeful, useful, valid, very good, virtuous, warm-hearted, welfare, welfare statist, welfarist, well-affected, well-disposed, well-intentioned, well-meaning, well-meant
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