charity
Pluralcharities (some meanings)
- 1Kindness toward people who are less fortunate, expressed by giving them goods or money.
The whole town responded with charity after the flood destroyed dozens of homes.
Volunteers practiced charity by distributing blankets and meals to families on the street.
Similargenerosity, philanthropy, benevolence, kindness
Oppositeselfishness
- 2An organization whose purpose is to carry out charitable work, such as helping those in need.
The charity provides clean drinking water to remote villages.
He donated his old books and clothes to a local charity.
Similarnonprofit, foundation, trust
Note
Two constructions share this meaning. With an article or a plural it names particular bodies: a local charity, money raised for local charities. Without either, as in give to charity or donate to charity, it stands for charities collectively, the cause rather than any one organization. Learners should keep the bare form for that general sense and use a or the when one specific group is meant.
- 3
- 4A general attitude of kindness and understanding toward others, now often suggesting generosity.
She judged her harshest critics with surprising charity.
He reviewed the young writer's flawed first draft with patience and charity.
Similarleniency, generosity, tolerance, kindness, compassion
Oppositeharshness, severity, intolerance
Note
Here the generosity lies in how other people are read, not in what they are given: charity as the benefit of the doubt. John Mitchell Mason, writing to a friend in 1677, pairs it against sincerity: judge yourself with sincerity, others with charity. The construction with charity, after verbs like judge or review, carries this sense. Unlike charity toward the poor, it involves no gift at all.
- 5In basketball, a free throw: an unguarded shot awarded to a player after a foul.
With the score tied, he calmly sank the charity to win it.
The rookie bricked the charity with three seconds left on the clock.
Note
Basketball slang heard in the US and the Philippines. The joke is easy to hear, because the shot is unguarded and handed over by the other side's foul. It belongs to informal talk, in commentary and on the court, not to formal writing about the game. Like free throw, it can be counted as a single shot, as in sank the charity, or used more loosely.
Less common meaning
- 6In Christian thought, divine love, embracing God's love for humanity, human love for God, and love among people.
The old hymn praised charity as the bond that holds all the virtues together.
Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil.
1611, The Holy Bible, King James VersionSimilaragape
Note
Behind every sense of the word stands Latin cāritās, which reached English through Old French charité, and here it keeps its religious weight as love itself, the same idea as agape. The King James Bible of 1611 gives the classic line: "Charity suffereth long, and is kind." Outside religious writing the use now reads as archaic, and a modern reader is likely to hear almsgiving instead.
Practice
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Origin
This word comes from Middle English "charite," borrowed from Old French "charité," which in turn came from Latin "cāritās."