Synonyms

do-gooder

American

[doo-good-er, -good-] / ˈduˈgʊd ər, -ˌgʊd- /

noun

a well-intentioned but naive and often ineffectual social or political reformer.

do-gooder British

noun

informal a well-intentioned person, esp a naive or impractical one

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of do-gooder

1925–30, do good + -er ¹

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.

See Examples For:

do-gooder

The 600 attendees who had crammed themselves into a D.C. town house that evening were typical Washington creatures: political staffers, journalists, do-gooder nonprofit types.

From Slate ● Dec. 23, 2025

“Urchin” is rich in confidence without a penny of do-gooder pity.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2025

One commentator said now that the "do-gooder" pandoro with pink icing sugar had been exposed as junk, Italians were wondering where that left "the princess of influencers as well as queen of social media".

From BBC ● Dec. 19, 2023

The descriptions of Bankman-Fried by the prosecution's three star witnesses contradict the 31-year-old former billionaire's pre-arrest reputation as a nerdy do-gooder who wanted to be a responsible actor in the rough-and-tumble crypto space.

From Reuters ● Oct. 23, 2023

The counselor who saw Jen as the perfect do-gooder project on her resume, offering her a chance at beauty pageant redemption meant to save them both.

From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023