benefit
English
Etymology
From Late Middle English benefytt, benefett, alteration (due to Latin bene-) of benfet, bienfet, bienfait (“good or noble deed”), from Anglo-Norman benfet (“well-done”), Middle French bienfait, from Old French bienfet, bienfait (“foredeal, favour”), from past participle of bienfaire (“to do good, do well”), from bien (“well”) + faire (“to do”), modelled after Latin benefactum (“good deed”). More at benefactor.
Pronunciation
- (US) enPR: bĕn'əfĭt, IPA(key): /ˈbɛn.ə.fɪt/
Audio (US) (file)
Noun
benefit (countable and uncountable, plural benefits)
- An advantage; help or aid from something.
- It was for her benefit. His benefit was free beer.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, in The Celebrity:
- When this conversation was repeated in detail within the hearing of the young woman in question, and undoubtedly for his benefit, Mr. Trevor threw shame to the winds and scandalized the Misses Brewster then and there by proclaiming his father to have been a country storekeeper.
- (insurance) A payment made in accordance with an insurance policy or a public assistance scheme.
- An event such as a performance, given to raise funds for some cause.
- (obsolete) beneficence; liberality
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Webster (1623) to this entry?)
Antonyms
- (advantage, help): disadvantage, encumbrance, hindrance, nuisance, obstacle, detriment
Derived terms
- beneficial
- benefiter
- benifit (a misspelling)
Translations
advantage, help or aid
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profit, use
payment, subsidy
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performance given to raise funds
See also
Verb
benefit (third-person singular simple present benefits, present participle benefiting or benefitting, simple past and past participle benefited or benefitted)
- (transitive) To be or to provide a benefit to.
- Bible, Jer. xviii. 10
- I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them.
- Bible, Jer. xviii. 10
- (intransitive) To receive a benefit (from); to be a beneficiary.
Usage notes
- Benefiting and benefited are more common, with benefitting and benefitted being minor variants, especially in the US.
Derived terms
- benefit association
- benefit-cost analysis
- benefit-cost ratio
- benefit dollar
- benefit in kind
- benefit of clergy
- benefit principle
- benefits coordinator
- benefit society
- bennies
- cafeteria benefit
- child tax benefit
- core benefit
- cost-benefit analysis
- death benefit
- elective benefit
- employee benefit
- equivalent annual benefit
- family benefit
- friend with benefits
- fringe benefit
- income-related benefit
- injury benefit
- maternity benefit
- means-tested benefit
- nonstatutory fringe benefit
- nonwage benefit
- private benefit
- risk-benefit
- sickness benefit
- state benefit
- stranded benefit
- supplementary benefit
- survivor benefit
- unemployment benefit
- variable death benefit
- widow’s benefit
Related terms
Translations
to be or provide a benefit to
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to receive a benefit
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Latin
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈbe.ne.fit/, [ˈbɛ.nɛ.fɪt]
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