benison
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of benison
1250–1300; Middle English < Anglo-French beneiçon, Middle French beneison < Latin benedictiōn- benediction
Explanation
If you say grace before a meal, you are saying a benison, or blessing. You can also be grateful for the benison of having your family around the table for a meal. The word benison shares the Latin root benedictio with the word benediction, a spoken blessing usually over a group, and with the word benefit, a non-religious word meaning good thing brought from something else. In Italy, if something is very good, they say "Bene!" Got the meaning of this word? Bene!
Vocabulary lists containing benison
"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 2
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2015 National Spelling Bee Words
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The Wind in the Willows
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Like Malik Solanka of Fury, who fled to America “to receive the benison of being Ellis Islanded,” the Goldens, too, have come seeking rebirth in the land of reinvention.
From Slate • Sep. 21, 2017
"A Bit of a Tune" revisits Philip Larkin's "Sad Steps" and its crack-of-dawn encounter with the moon, finding it "a benison and a boon".
From The Guardian • Sep. 28, 2012
At 16, he decided to spend "a life giving to others the benison which nature gave to me."
From Time Magazine Archive
The thing that distinguishes the fund that runs the place is its devotion not only to care but to something approaching benison.
From Time Magazine Archive
Nearest to Nature's very heart of hearts, The verdant monarchs beckon us to God; Their benison with life alone departs; They testify of Eden from the sod.
From Montezuma An Epic on the Origin and Fate of the Aztec Nation by Richmond, Hiram Hoyt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
