Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An attitude of kindness or friendliness; benevolence.
- n. Cheerful acquiescence or willingness.
- n. A good relationship, as of a business with its customers or a nation with other nations.
- n. The positive reputation of a business viewed as an asset, equal to the excess cost required to acquire the business over the fair market value of all other assets.
Wiktionary
- n. A favorably disposed attitude toward someone or something.
- n. accounting The value of a business entity not directly attributable to its tangible assets and liabilities. This value derives from factors such as consumer loyalty to the brand.
- n. business A concept used to refer to the ability of an individual or business to exert influence within a community, club, market or another type of group, without having to resort to the use of an asset (such as money or property), either directly or by the creation of a lien.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a disposition to kindness and compassion
- n. (accounting) an intangible asset valued according to the advantage or reputation a business has acquired (over and above its tangible assets)
- n. the friendly hope that something will succeed
Etymologies
- From Middle English *goodwille, good wille ("goodwill"), perhaps from Old English *gōdwille ("goodwill"; compare Old English gōdwillende ("well-pleased"); also Scots gudewilly, guidwillie ("displaying goodwill")), equivalent to good + will. Cognate with Scots guidwill ("goodwill"), Middle Low German gūtwille ("goodwill"), Old High German guotwilligi ("goodwill"), Old Danish godvilje ("goodwill"), Icelandic góðvilji, góðvili ("goodwill"), Icelandic góðvild ("goodness"). (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Formerly, accountants used the term goodwill to refer to an intangible business asset, such as a well-regarded business name, brand, or symbol, acquired in a merger.”
Simon & Schuster: Essential Guide to Business Style and Usage
“(Turner's payment included another $1 million in "goodwill" money for the Department of Homeland Security.)”
“We are convinced that any signs of improvement or goodwill from the government and its leaders will be met with understanding and support from the Chinese people and will be effective in moving Chinese society in a peaceful direction.”
The Washington Post: Letter: On Liu Xiaobo and the Nobel Peace Prize
“Although Avatar had my goodwill from the first episode, when it introduced Toph in the second book, my goodwill became distilled and pure.”
“Governments have an uncanny knack of turning willing volunteers into ‘pressed men’ and ruin goodwill in the process. on February 3, 2010 at 7: 58 pm Bob”
The Truth Behind The £100 Phonecalls « POLICE INSPECTOR BLOG
“So at this point, what you pay for is not goodwill from the party in power, but rather specific actions on specific legislation.”
Matthew Yglesias » The Republican Party’s Requited Love for Large Banks
“When the USSR finally pulled out of Afghanistan in 1989, the US was presented with a great opportunity to help the Afghan people and to gain some long-term goodwill towards the US.”
The Huffington Post: David Wallechinsky: Why Do They Hate Us?
“The setup has cost her in goodwill, an important political currency.”
The Huffington Post: Taylor Marsh: Sarah Palin's Team Sends Smoke Signal on 2012
“Obama's own goodwill is waning in this country, but maybe not in the same state that elected Corzine to begin with.”
“What needs to be done given * their* culture — they may have no concept of reciprocal extension of goodwill, for example, but believe any extension of goodwill is simply an indication of capitulation — and ours: the Mongols (and Charlemagne) had many effective solutions to societal problems we find abhorent and would never use such as genocide of entire offensive groups (like the Avars) ....”
The Volokh Conspiracy » Immigrants and Nazis, Communists and Cardinals
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘goodwill’.
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RELI - words with Biblical connotations
Words in the Bible evoking biblical stories or with special spiritual meaning. Proper names have been reduced to the minimum.
ark, judgement, holy, saint, baptism, spirit, love, eternal, altar, balsam, covenant, flood and 1115 more...
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LIT - Odyssey - key words and phrases
Key words of the Odyssey by Homer in English including all those famous repeating epitethons like
"bright-eyed Athene"
"wine-dark sea"
"rosy-fingered dawn"
"long suf...Odysseus, sea, Athene, goddess, land, Achaean, wind, wave, Ithaca, lead, Poseidon, mortal and 732 more...
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Ideas
brainchild, inspiration, muse, genius, eureka, discovery, intellectual prop..., intangible asset, goodwill, patented, savant, brainiac and 76 more...
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National Library Agenda Summit
nla2006, summit, agenda, library, ala, diversity, education, learning, continuous, scan, environmental, plan and 646 more...
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my dictionary
able, abnormally, abroad, absent, abstract, acceptable, acceptance, access, accessible, accession, according to, account and 4551 more...
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5-0
Hecko, words! I’m so happy I’ve found you. I want to keep you all and never want to lose you again. I hope you like it here.
amscray, thistledown, tine, tinsel, pungent, snarl, wail, lanky, viscid, dawdle, luminous, stow and 2719 more...
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just vocab
courteous, sincere, confident, subordination, non-discriminary, knowledgeable, persuasive, inclined, overconfident, arrogant, presumptuous, goodwill and 29 more...
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Words/terms with high cultural utility
These are words which are speculated to effectively and usefully organize discussion, thought, and debate.
When these words enter into a discussion they aid in bringing about consensus...good faith, bad faith, dialogue, goodwill, value proposition
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sentiment
bitter, goodwill, desolate, gaiety, nostalgia, serendipity, enrapture
Tweets
Looking for tweets for goodwill.
edwardvielmetti reservoir of goodwill and affection Dec 10, 2006