benignity

American  

[bih-nig-ni-tee] / bɪˈnɪg nɪ ti /

noun

benignities plural

1. the quality of being benign; kindness.

2. Archaic. a good deed or favor; an instance of kindness.

   benignities born of selfless devotion.

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benignity British  

/ bɪˈnɪɡnɪtɪ /

noun

1. the quality of being benign; favourable attitude

2. a kind or gracious act

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• unbenignity
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• benignities
  plural

Etymology

Origin of benignity

First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English benignite, from Middle French, Old French, from Latin benignitās; see benign, -ity

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

benignity benignities

Notice the benignity in those examples, because — quite importantly — Thor does not become malicious.

From Salon ● May 1, 2019

He writes: “‘Carbon Ideologies’ largely neglects solar power, that being associated with decentralization and environmental benignity.

From New York Times ● Aug. 6, 2018

Third, the benignity and violation have to be simultaneously interpreted; otherwise, the joke will fall flat.

From Slate ● Apr. 25, 2018

Any hope of sneaking in some bold or challenging theological notion, or moral proposition, rests on the benignity of this initial encounter.

From The New Yorker ● May 13, 2016

I sit at cottage and farmhouse doors while he warns and comforts and commands within, and, these days having been mild and grey and convenient, the effect has been of the last benignity.

From The Letters of Henry James, Vol. II by James, Henry

One was a standard something-is-wrong-with-nature film that made monsters of benignities, the other a headlong black-comic attack on the nuclear threat.

From Time Magazine Archive

They are disturbing to look at, nightmarish, but most of them, oddly enough, are intended as lucky benignities.

From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas

Many of the people shook hands with me at the door, and the bald old gentleman led me to his wife and daughter, whose benignities were almost parental.

From Campaigns of a Non-Combatant, and His Romaunt Abroad During the War by Townsend, George Alfred

To him, as to Cowper, the benignities of nature restored peace and calmness and hope—sufficient to enable him to look back and gather wisdom.

From England's Antiphon by MacDonald, George

The balsams shed upon the air their perfumes, so pervasive, so tonic, that the lungs breathed health and all the benignities of nature.

From The Prophet of the Great Smoky Mountains by Murfree, Mary Noailles