largesse
Americannoun
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generous bestowal of gifts.
Corporate sponsors can keep entire festivals and arenas alive with their largesse, so they need to be strategic about their giving.
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a generous gift or gifts, such as of money.
With the largesse received from these donors, the hospital has been able to purchase two new MRI machines.
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generosity; liberality.
He's a man of remarkable largesse of mind, heart, and soul.
noun
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the generous bestowal of gifts, favours, or money
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the things so bestowed
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generosity of spirit or attitude
Etymology
Origin of largesse
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English largesse, from Old French; cf. large, -ice
Explanation
Largesse is extreme generosity. If your neighbors bring you an expensive watch from Switzerland because you fed their cat while they were traveling, thank them for their largesse. Though pronounced "lar JESS," the word largesse looks sort of like largeness. That's an easy way to remember what largesse means: think of it as largeness of spirit. Largesse can describe the generosity of someone giving gifts, or it can describe the gift itself. You could dispense largess by buying your brother a dinner at a fancy restaurant for helping you out.
Vocabulary lists containing largesse
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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"The Odyssey" by Homer, Books 8–13
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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.
Whichever way you look at it, men's professional golf needs backers with the deepest pockets to sustain such levels of largesse.
From BBC • Apr. 20, 2026
For aid organizations in Yemen that relied on U.S. largesse, the aim has shifted to preserving whatever remains of their operations.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 13, 2026
“That largesse can be redeployed in the form of lower interest rates to support households and small and medium-size businesses.”
From Barron's • Jan. 30, 2026
How much longer such welcome largesse can continue, I wouldn’t want to wager.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 23, 2025
The Garcías could not afford extras, and they did not want to put their hosts in the embarrassing position of having to spend money out of largesse.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
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.
