benefice

[ben-uh-fis]

noun

1. a position or post granted to an ecclesiastic that guarantees a fixed amount of property or income.

2. the revenue itself.

3. the equivalent of a fief in the early Middle Ages.

verb (used with object)

beneficed, beneficing 

1. to invest with a benefice or ecclesiastical living.

benefice

/ ˈbɛnɪfɪs /

noun

1. Christianity an endowed Church office yielding an income to its holder; a Church living

2. the property or revenue attached to such an office

3. (in feudal society) a tenement (piece of land) held by a vassal from a landowner on easy terms or free, esp in return for military support See also vassalage

verb

1. (tr) to provide with a benefice

Other Word Forms

• nonbeneficed adjective
• unbeneficed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of benefice¹

1300–50; Middle English < Middle French < Latin beneficium service, kindness ( benefic ( us ) benefic + -ium -ium )

Word History and Origins

Origin of benefice¹

C14: from Old French, from Latin beneficium benefit, from beneficus , from bene well + facere to do

Example Sentences

Some tycoons have crafted named benefices: the Broad and David Geffen foundations, for example.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The church, she says, is one of 15 in the benefice.

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In 1449, the city council of Toledo, Spain, passed an ordinance decreeing “that no converso of Jewish descent may have or hold any office or benefice in the said city of Toledo.”

Read more on The New Yorker

The idea of a paid vicar in every single church on a Sunday - certainly in the benefice here - is long gone.

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Most important of these was the appropriation of benefices to their use.

Read more on Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• district