beneficiary

American  

[ben-uh-fish-ee-er-ee, -fish-uh-ree] / ˌbɛn əˈfɪʃ iˌɛr i, -ˈfɪʃ ə ri /

noun

• beneficiaries
  plural

1. a person or group that receives benefits, profits, or advantages.

2. a person designated as the recipient of funds or other property under a will, trust, insurance policy, etc.

3. Ecclesiastical. the holder of a benefice.

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beneficiary British  

/ ˌbɛnɪˈfɪʃərɪ /

noun

1. a person who gains or benefits in some way from something

2. law a person entitled to receive funds or other property under a trust, will, or insurance policy

3. the holder of an ecclesiastical or other benefice

4. a person who receives government assistance

   social security beneficiary

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adjective

1. of or relating to a benefice or the holder of a benefice

beneficiary Cultural  

1. The recipient of funds, property, or other benefits from an insurance policy, will, trust, or other settlement.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• prebeneficiary
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• beneficiaries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of beneficiary

First recorded in 1605–15; from Latin beneficiārius, from benefici(um) benefice + -ārius -ary

Explanation

A beneficiary is simply the recipient of money or other benefits. So when your big sister finally moves away to college and you get to move into her bigger bedroom? You become a lucky beneficiary. In other words — if you benefit from something, you are a beneficiary. This word pops up most commonly when people are creating their wills and trusts — you have to choose beneficiaries as the people who will get what you have when you die. But it isn't always so morbid. You can be the beneficiary of someone's kindness, the beneficiary of a good education, or even the beneficiary of your own hard work.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

beneficiary beneficiaries

“We believe it will be a business that actually is a net beneficiary from the technology over time because they have such dominant market-share position in their key markets.”

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 6, 2026

While a Roth IRA must also be emptied by year 10, the beneficiary doesn’t owe income tax on withdrawals as long as the Roth IRA has met the five-year holding requirement.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026

If that happens, CoreWeave could be a major beneficiary as the most prominent neocloud company.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 23, 2026

In this case, tax-exempt securities would be the biggest beneficiary.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026

Hale had always insisted that Roan, one of his closest friends, had made him the beneficiary because he had lent Roan a lot of money over the years.

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

The problem for the market, he said, is that once such numbers are bandied about, any significant capex shortfall will badly damage sentiment toward the beneficiaries of such spending, particularly chip and data-center equipment makers.

From MarketWatch ● Oct. 5, 2026

With the prospect of borrowing costs being kept on hold for now, tech-rich markets were the big beneficiaries as such firms rely on debt to drive their vast investments.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

About 1.3 million people from 17 countries had TPS when President Trump returned to office last year, and Salvadorans make up the largest group of remaining beneficiaries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026

Nonspouse beneficiaries must move inherited IRA assets through a direct transfer to preserve their tax treatment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

And had that, in fact, not occurred during and after the American Revolution, with the “band of brothers” he and Adams had come to symbolize being the obvious beneficiaries of the republican selection process?

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis

Related Words

• heir
• recipient