Definition: Charity
From New World Encyclopedia
Etymology
From Middle English charite, from Old French charité, cherte, chariteit, cariteit, from Latin cāritās.
Noun
charity (countable and uncountable, plural charities)
- (countable) An organization, the objective of which is to carry out a charitable (kind, generous) purpose.
- (countable) The goods or money given to those in need.
- (uncountable) Benevolence to others less fortunate than ourselves; the providing of goods or money to those in need.
- In general, an attitude of kindness and understanding towards others, now especially suggesting generosity.
Derived terms
- anticharity
- charitable
- charity box
- charity case
- charity shop
- charity stamp
- charity stripe
- charityware
- principle of charity
Credits
New World Encyclopedia writers and editors copied and adjusted this Wiktionary entry in accordance with NWE standards. This article abides by terms of the Creative Commons CC-by-sa 3.0 License (CC-by-sa), which may be used and disseminated with proper attribution. Credit for this article is due to both New World Encyclopedia contributors and the selfless volunteer contributors of the Wikimedia Foundation. To cite this article click here for a list acceptable citing formats.The history of earlier contributions at Wiktionary is accessible to researchers here:
