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Definition of generous adjective from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

generous

adjective
 
/ˈdʒenərəs/
 
/ˈdʒenərəs/
(approving)
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  1. giving or willing to give freely; given freely
    • The gallery was named after its most generous benefactor.
    • a generous donation/gift/offer
    • generous with something You've been incredibly generous with your time.
    • generous to somebody He was generous to his friends and family.
    • generous in something She was generous in her praise for her co-stars.
    • generous in doing something They were very generous in giving help
    • it is generous of somebody Thank you for your donation. It was very generous of you.
    • it is generous of somebody to do something It was extremely generous of him to offer to pay for us both.
    opposite mean
    Extra Examples
    • They were very generous with the food!
    • She's quite generous with her praise.
    • They have been extremely generous to the church.
    • He's a kind and generous man.
    • The director thanked the chairman for his generous gift.
    Topics Personal qualitiesb1, Moneyb1
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • appear
    • be
    • feel
    adverb
    • extremely
    • fairly
    • very
    preposition
    • of
    • to
    • with
    See full entry
  2. more than is necessary; large synonym lavish
    • a generous helping of meat
    • The car has a generous amount of space.
    • The review panel criticized the payments as overly generous.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • appear
    • be
    • feel
    adverb
    • extremely
    • fairly
    • very
    preposition
    • of
    • to
    • with
    See full entry
  3. kind in the way you treat people; willing to see what is good about somebody/something
    • a generous mind
    • He wrote a very generous assessment of my work.
    • Her generous spirit shone through in everything she did.
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryverbs
    • appear
    • be
    • feel
    adverb
    • extremely
    • fairly
    • very
    preposition
    • of
    • to
    • with
    See full entry
  4. Word Originlate 16th cent.: via Old French from Latin generosus ‘noble, magnanimous’, from genus, gener- ‘stock, race’. The original sense was ‘of noble birth’, hence ‘characteristic of noble birth, courageous, magnanimous, not mean’ (a sense already present in Latin).
See generous in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee generous in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
given
adjective
 
 
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