BENIGNANT

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pleasant and beneficial in nature or influence

Example:

the benign influence of pure air

Synonyms:

benign; benignant

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

kindly (pleasant and agreeable)

Also:

harmless (not causing or capable of causing harm)

kind (having or showing a tender and considerate and helpful nature; used especially of persons and their behavior)

Attribute:

benignancy; benignity; graciousness (the quality of being kind and gentle)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Characterized by kindness and warm courtesy especially of a king to his subjects

Example:

our benignant king

Synonyms:

benignant; gracious

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

kind (having or showing a tender and considerate and helpful nature; used especially of persons and their behavior)

Credits

Context examples:

I used to enjoy a chance meeting with you, Jane, at this time: there was a curious hesitation in your manner: you glanced at me with a slight trouble—a hovering doubt: you did not know what my caprice might be—whether I was going to play the master and be stern, or the friend and be benignant.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I cut and handed the sweet seed-cake—the little sisters had a bird-like fondness for picking up seeds and pecking at sugar; Miss Lavinia looked on with benignant patronage, as if our happy love were all her work; and we were perfectly contented with ourselves and one another.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I loved her none the less; I thought of her as the same benignant, gentle angel in my life; I reproached myself, not her, with having done him an injury; and I would have made him any atonement if I had known what to make, and how to make it.