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Webster 1913 Edition


Benefaction

Benˊe-fac′tion

,
Noun.
[L.
benefactio
, fr.
benefacere
to do good to one;
bene
well +
facere
to do. See
Benefit
.]
1.
The act of conferring a benefit.
Johnson.
2.
A benefit conferred; esp. a charitable donation.
Syn. – Gift; present; gratuity; boon; alms.

Webster 1828 Edition


Benefaction

BENEFAC'TION

,
Noun.
[L.benefacio, of bene, well, and facio, to make or do.]
1.
The act of conferring a benefit.
More generally,
2.
A benefit conferred, especially a charitable donation.

Definition 2024


benefaction

benefaction

English

Noun

benefaction (plural benefactions)

  1. An act of doing good; a benefit, a blessing.
    • 1999, Joyce Crick, translating Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams, Oxford 2008, p. 70:
      We all feel that sleep is a benefaction [transl. Wohlthat] to our psychical life, and the obscure awareness of the popular mind is clearly unwilling to be robbed of its prejudice that the dream is one of the ways in which sleep confers its benefactions.
  2. An act of charity; almsgiving.

Translations