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goodwill.

A favorably disposed attitude toward someone or something.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˌɡʊdˈwɪl/Australia, Canada, Received-Pronunciation, US/ˌɡɵdˈwɪl/British, Southern, Standard/ˌɡʊdˈwəl/New-Zealand/ˌɡʉdˈwɪl/Northern-Ireland, Scotland
  1. A favorably disposed attitude toward someone or something.

    uncountable · usually
  2. The value of a business entity not directly attributable to its tangible assets and liabilities, deriving from factors such as consumer loyalty to the brand.

    uncountable · usually
  3. The ability of an individual or business to exert influence within a community, club, market or another type of group, without having to resort to the use of an asset (such as money or property), either directly or by the creation of a lien.

    uncountable · usually
  4. The willingness of a worker to perform activities not strictly within the scope of the employment contract and not just work to rule.

    uncountable · usually
  5. A thrift shop.

    Canada · US · capitalized · countable · uncommon · usually
Where this word comes from

From Middle English *goodwille, good wille, possibly from Old English *gōdwille (compare gōdwillende (“well-pleased”)). Compare also Scots guidwilly, guidwillie (“displaying goodwill”). By surface analysis, good + will. Cognate with Scots guidwill (“goodwill”), Middle Low German gūtwille (“goodwill”), Old High German guotwilligi (“goodwill”), Old Danish godvilje (“goodwill”), Icelandic góðvilji, góðvili (“goodwill”), Icelandic góðvild (“goodness”). The sense "thrift shop" is a genericized trademark of the US-based chain Goodwill Industries.

verb/ˌɡʊdˈwɪl/Australia, Canada, Received-Pronunciation, US/ˌɡɵdˈwɪl/British, Southern, Standard/ˌɡʊdˈwəl/New-Zealand/ˌɡʉdˈwɪl/Northern-Ireland, Scotland
  1. To voluntarily provide or cover some or all of the cost of (something) to maintain goodwill.

    transitive
    The company goodwilled the cost of the repairs.
Where this word comes from

From Middle English *goodwille, good wille, possibly from Old English *gōdwille (compare gōdwillende (“well-pleased”)). Compare also Scots guidwilly, guidwillie (“displaying goodwill”). By surface analysis, good + will. Cognate with Scots guidwill (“goodwill”), Middle Low German gūtwille (“goodwill”), Old High German guotwilligi (“goodwill”), Old Danish godvilje (“goodwill”), Icelandic góðvilji, góðvili (“goodwill”), Icelandic góðvild (“goodness”). The sense "thrift shop" is a genericized trademark of the US-based chain Goodwill Industries.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.