magnanimity
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of magnanimity
1300–50; Middle English magnanimite < Latin magnanimitās. See magnanimous, -ity
Explanation
Magnanimous behavior is noble, generous, or unselfish, and to exhibit magnanimity is to be this way. He showed great magnanimity in not pressing charges when I drove his car into the pond. "Accidents happen my friend," he said, and patted me on the back. In Latin, magnus means "great": a magnate is a great man; a magnum is a great big bottle of champagne. Magnanimity is the generous greatness of spirit. When you are being the bigger person, you are behaving with magnanimity. "The supermodel grabbed the magnum of champagne, lifted it to her mouth and drained the bottle. With great magnanimity, her host smiled and offered her another."
Vocabulary lists containing magnanimity
The Declaration of Independence
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Speak Your Mind: Anim
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Brave New World
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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.
See Examples For:
That’s generous and it takes not a small amount of magnanimity to put aside hurt feelings like that.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 21, 2026
But he added: William "will look benevolent. He will look like he is exercising magnanimity."
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
Thomas Aquinas named it magnanimity, the stretching of the soul toward great things.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
Out of magnanimity, I’ll liken this trifle to a Rothko.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 9, 2026
Touched, Bernard felt himself at the same time humiliated by this magnanimity—a magnanimity the more extraordinary and therefore the more humiliating in that it owed nothing to soma and everything to Helmholtz’s character.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
If those magnanimities are welcomed and made permanent, our soldier-idealists will not have died in vain.
From Out To Win The Story of America in France by Coningsby Dawson
For the first two or three months, Peter was the idol of all the world: such generosities and magnanimities; Such zeal and diligence, one magnanimous improvement following another!
From History of Friedrich II of Prussia — Volume 20 by Thomas Carlyle
Struggle with new magnanimities as she would, jealousy was native to Kitty, and jealousy has sharp eyes.
From The Story of Louie by Oliver [pseud.] Onions
So has chronology been hacked to make loftier his fame, and the glory of Dom Manuel has been a magnet that has drawn to itself the magnanimities of other days and years.
From Figures of Earth by James Branch Cabell
So all's past, and I am safe: A pox on these fighting masters of mine, to bring me into this danger, with their valours and magnanimities.
From Dryden's Works Vol. 3 (of 18) Sir Martin Mar-All; The Tempest; An Evening's Love; Tyrannic Love by John Dryden
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.
