WELL-MEANING

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not unfriendly or threatening

Example:

the exasperation of a...well-meaning cow worried by dogs

Synonyms:

unthreatening; well-meaning

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

amicable (characterized by friendship and good will)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Marked by good intentions though often producing unfortunate results

Example:

blunt but well-meant criticism

Synonyms:

well-intentioned; well-meaning; well-meant

Classified under:

Adjectives

Similar:

intended (resulting from one's intentions)

Credits

Context examples:

He, her father, a well-meaning, but not a quick-sighted man, could really, I believe, give no information; for he had been generally confined to the house, while the girls were ranging over the town and making what acquaintance they chose; and he tried to convince me, as thoroughly as he was convinced himself, of his daughter's being entirely unconcerned in the business.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

It was hardly possible, indeed, that anything else should be talked of, for Mrs. Norris was in high spirits about it; and Mrs. Rushworth, a well-meaning, civil, prosing, pompous woman, who thought nothing of consequence, but as it related to her own and her son's concerns, had not yet given over pressing Lady Bertram to be of the party.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

By birth she belonged to Highbury: and when at three years old, on losing her mother, she became the property, the charge, the consolation, the foundling of her grandmother and aunt, there had seemed every probability of her being permanently fixed there; of her being taught only what very limited means could command, and growing up with no advantages of connexion or improvement, to be engrafted on what nature had given her in a pleasing person, good understanding, and warm-hearted, well-meaning relations.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Well, and so this was kept a great secret, for fear of Mrs. Ferrars, and neither she nor your brother or sister suspected a word of the matter;—till this very morning, poor Nancy, who, you know, is a well-meaning creature, but no conjurer, popt it all out.