Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Courageously noble in mind and heart.
- adj. Generous in forgiving; eschewing resentment or revenge; unselfish.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Great of mind or heart; of high and steadfast courage; elevated in. soul or in sentiment; high-minded; raised above what is low, mean, or ungenerous.
- Dictated by greatness of mind or heart; exhibiting nobleness of soul; liberal and honorable; unselfish.
- Synonyms Generous (see noble); high-minded, great-souled, chivalrous.
Wiktionary
- adj. Noble and generous in spirit.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Great of mind; elevated in soul or in sentiment; raised above what is low, mean, or ungenerous; of lofty and courageous spirit
- adj. Dictated by or exhibiting nobleness of soul; honorable; noble; not selfish.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. noble and generous in spirit
- adj. generous and understanding and tolerant
Etymologies
- From Latin magnanimus : magnus, great; see meg- in Indo-European roots + animus, soul, mind; see anə- in Indo-European roots.
Examples
“Their answer is for a platonic oligarchy of a rich class which in magnanimous good will is supposed to provide "jobs" for the middle class.”
“He is, in short, magnanimous (for instance, he forgives his enemies their offences).”
“Dr. Weizman, in magnanimous terms, said, "I want nothing for myself, but the Jews are interested in re-establishing in Palestine a cultural home, a religious home, and we would be glad to have the support of the Allies, particularly the British, in our ambition.”
“Mighty of heart, mighty of mind -- "magnanimous" -- to be this, is, indeed, to be great in life; to become this increasingly, is, indeed, to "advance in life," -- in life itself -- not in the trappings of it.”
“PBS and NPR receive buckets of dough from big advertisers, who these days are known as magnanimous "sponsors.”
Reinventing The News Business Requires A Little Imagination - Publishing 2.0
“Would our city leaders be this magnanimous were the victims black and the attackers white?”
“He became uneasily conscious his own part in it could not be overlooked, that he was doing something that evilly-disposed persons might even call magnanimous or philanthropic.”
“Such an eulogium at such a time is a wonderful instance of loving forbearance with a true-hearted follower's weakness, and of a desire which, in a man, we should call magnanimous, to shield John's character from depreciation on account of his message.”
Expositions of Holy Scripture : St. Matthew Chaps. IX to XXVIII
“But if they truly believe that it will do for humanity what is claimed for it, I do not see why it should be called magnanimous for a woman to say, I yield to man just what he has always asserted as his, the right to rule.”
“In consequence of this refusal -- called magnanimous by contemporary writers -- to accept his property under such conditions, the estates were detained from him for a considerable time longer.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘magnanimous’.
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gre
municipal, whit, dissembler, berate, liberally, embellish, dissimilitude, histrionics, flamboyance, bombastic, bovine, calumny and 142 more...
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Mobying Along
looks like there's not an open Moby Dick list. So now there is.
hypos, Manhattoes, circumambulate, mole, grapnels, bowsprit, asphaltic, mazy, tranced, cataract, ungraspable, judgmatically and 227 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 1073 more...
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SAT Words
But only the ones that I don't already know.
abase, abash, abominate, abstruse, acclivity, accolade, accost, adroit, adulate, adulterate, adumbrate, affray and 241 more...
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Pound
Words found in the works of Ezra Pound
Pavlova, garret, skein, rabble, rillet, ungainly, progeny, stodgy, Cybele, procurer, profundity, magnanimous and 1 more...
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#faveword
Words chosen as favorites for the Twitter hashtag #faveword.
autumnal, grotto, chiaroscuro, sfumato, homunculus, zing, zest, effervescent, bewitch, avuncular, susurrus, Styrofoam and 205 more...
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GRE Study guide
Going through the Magoosh website, words I pulled from the verbal section. 2012.
magnanimous, correlate, anglicized, simulacrum, tantamount, obsequiousness, subterfuge, vehement, vociferous, benign, concomitant, veracity and 83 more...
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Mikey's favorite words
Here they are. Enjoy.
unconscionable, egregious, thunderfuzzled, magnanimous, stumblepony, somnambulant, torpor, nefarious, beamish, recalcitrant, recidivist, hogshead and 1 more...
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The Aleph
Words found in a collection of short stories by Jorge Luis Borges.
travail, magnanimous, troglodyte, euphorbia, satyr, lascivious, caustic, frontispiece, temerity, vertiginous, frieze, cupola and 72 more...
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Faves
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inspirational
bilby If you speak Italian, the conventional English pronunciation of this probably strikes you as ugly. Jul 10, 2008
shevek At least one translation of Aristotle uses the word magnanimous to refer to a person who is neither arrogant nor excessively humble. I like that definition better, because there isn't another word for that meaning, whereas generous is a perfectly good word, and not in need of a synonym. Jul 9, 2008
arby I think this is another one I misread as a child - "magnamanious". Jul 18, 2007