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CHARITY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
An activity or gift that benefits the public at large
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("charity" is a kind of...):
gift; giving (the act of giving)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "charity"):
handout (giving money or food or clothing to a needy person)
zakat (the fourth pillar of Islam is almsgiving as an act of worship)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A kindly and lenient attitude toward people
Synonyms:
brotherly love; charity
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("charity" is a kind of...):
benevolence (an inclination to do kind or charitable acts)
supernatural virtue; theological virtue (according to Christian ethics: one of the three virtues (faith, hope, and charity) created by God to round out the natural virtues)
Sense 3
Meaning:
An institution set up to provide help to the needy
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("charity" is a kind of...):
establishment; institution (an organization founded and united for a specific purpose)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "charity"):
community chest (a charity supported by individual subscriptions; defrays the demands on a community for social welfare)
soup kitchen (a place where food is dispensed to the needy)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A foundation created to promote the public good (not for assistance to any particular individuals)
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("charity" is a kind of...):
foundation (an institution supported by an endowment)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "charity"):
philanthropic foundation (a foundation that provides funds for science or art or education or religion or relief from disease etc.)
private foundation (a charity that does not receive a major part of its support from the public)
public charity (a charity that is deemed to receive the major part of its support from the public (rather than from a small group of individuals))
Sense 5
Meaning:
Pinnate-leaved European perennial having bright blue or white flowers
Synonyms:
charity; Greek valerian; Jacob's ladder; Polemonium caeruleum; Polemonium van-bruntiae; Polymonium caeruleum van-bruntiae
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("charity" is a kind of...):
polemonium (any plant of the genus Polemonium; most are low-growing often foul-smelling plants of temperate to Arctic regions)
Context examples:
I trust to being in charity with her soon.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Do not despair. To be friendless is indeed to be unfortunate, but the hearts of men, when unprejudiced by any obvious self-interest, are full of brotherly love and charity.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
One or two meetings of this kind had taken place, without affording Elinor any chance of engaging Lucy in private, when Sir John called at the cottage one morning, to beg, in the name of charity, that they would all dine with Lady Middleton that day, as he was obliged to attend the club at Exeter, and she would otherwise be quite alone, except her mother and the two Miss Steeles.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
Under this infatuating principle, counteracted by no real affection for her sister, it was impossible for her to aim at more than the credit of projecting and arranging so expensive a charity; though perhaps she might so little know herself as to walk home to the Parsonage, after this conversation, in the happy belief of being the most liberal-minded sister and aunt in the world.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
He came out of his seclusion, renewed relations with his friends, became once more their familiar guest and entertainer; and whilst he had always been known for charities, he was now no less distinguished for religion.
(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)
Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
The adieu is charity itself.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
Venus will circulate in your eleventh house of hopes and wishes, a house that also covers friendships, groups, charities, and humanitarian efforts.
(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)
I told Mamma so yesterday, and she looked as glad and grateful as if I'd given her a check for a million, to be spent in charity.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
Nor was Martin ungrateful, knowing as he did the lives of the poor, and that if ever in the world there was charity, this was it.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
