Word of the Day for Wednesday October 5, 2005 beneficence \buh-NEFF-i-suhns\, noun: 1. The practice of doing good; active goodness, kindness, or charity. 2. A charitable gift or act. Lord Jeffrey told Dickens that it [A Christmas Carol] had "prompted more positive acts of beneficence than can be traced to all the pulpits and confessionals in Christendom since Christmas 1842." --Roger Highfield, [1]The Physics of Christmas From my grandfather Verus I learned good morals and the government of my temper. From the reputation and remembrance of my father, modesty and a manly character. From my mother, piety and beneficence and abstinence. --Marcus Aurelius, [2]Meditations She had disseminated around her what seemed an involuntary aura of beneficence and goodwill. --John Bayley, [3]Elegy for Iris _________________________________________________________ Beneficence is from Latin beneficentia, from beneficus, "kind, generous, obliging," from bene, "well" (from bonus, "good") + facere, "to do." The adjective form is beneficent. References 1. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0316366951/ref=nosim/lexico 2. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140441409/ref=nosim/lexico 3. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0312421117ref=nosim/lexico Dictionary.com Entry and Pronunciation http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=9&q=beneficence