goodwill

or good will

[ good-wil ]

noun

1. friendly disposition; benevolence; kindness.

   Synonyms: friendliness

2. cheerful acquiescence or consent.
3. Commerce. an intangible, saleable asset arising from the reputation of a business and its relations with its customers, distinct from the value of its stock and other tangible assets.

goodwill

/ ˌɡʊdˈwɪl /

noun

1. a feeling of benevolence, approval, and kindly interest
2. modifier resulting from, showing, or designed to show goodwill

   a goodwill ambassador for UNICEF

   the government sent a goodwill mission to Moscow

3. willingness or acquiescence
4. accounting an intangible asset taken into account in assessing the value of an enterprise and reflecting its commercial reputation, customer connections, etc

Word History and Origins

Origin of goodwill¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English gōd willa. See good, will ²

Synonym Study

See favor.

Example Sentences

My approach was to foster a lot of goodwill, if you have a good reputation on Reddit, you have a pretty good stranglehold on what the rest of the internet thinks of you.

From Digiday

Federal prosecutors said Garmo’s gun-trafficking scheme, which included sales of high-capacity magazines, didn’t just bring in extra cash — it earned him goodwill among a class of donors he would need for a future run for sheriff.

From Voice of San Diego

On Kant’s view we need to understand how to help people adhere to the moral law because he thought that what matters most is one’s goodwill or motive.

From No Straight News

When opportunity in great locations come up I think that goodwill will pay dividends for us.

From Fortune

This move also potentially squanders the goodwill the company garnered by issuing ads credits to businesses hurt by the pandemic.

From Search Engine Land

The company would continue to refund these goodwill refunds.

From The Daily Beast

There are few actresses these days that inspire more goodwill than Anna Kendrick.

From The Daily Beast

After all, freeing hostages as goodwill gestures—without a guarantee of some benefit—is not the way the Kim family operates.

From The Daily Beast

Eventually, it was gifted to Czar Peter the Great as a token of goodwill between the Germans and Russians.

From The Daily Beast

As with a new president, there will likely be a short window of goodwill in which to act.

From The Daily Beast

He or she is a radiating focus of goodwill; and their entrance into a room is as though another candle had been lighted.

From Project Gutenberg

She received Quentin Dick, to whom she was well known, with a mixture of goodwill and quiet dignity.

From Project Gutenberg

We came in peace and goodwill, not to maim and slay, or to spread alarm and desolation through thy land.

From Project Gutenberg

His journey was made an occasion for special demonstrations of goodwill among the rival courtiers.

From Project Gutenberg

He collected fresh evidence of its fertility, salubrity, and riches, and of the goodwill of the natives towards Englishmen.

From Project Gutenberg