magnanimous

English

WOTD – 5 May 2007

Etymology

From Latin magnanimus, from magnus (“great”) + animus (“soul, mind”). Displaced native Old English miċelmōd (literally “big-minded”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /mæɡˈnæn.ɪ.məs/

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ænɪməs

Adjective

magnanimous (comparative more magnanimous, superlative most magnanimous)

1. Noble and generous in spirit.

   Synonyms: big-hearted, generous, great-hearted, large-hearted, unselfish

   • c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Famous Historie of Troylus and Cresseid. […] (First Quarto), London: […] G[eorge] Eld for R[ichard] Bonian and H[enry] Walley, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii]:

     She is a theame of honour and renowne, / A ſpurre to valiant and magnanimous deeds, / Whoſe preſent courage may beate downe our foes, / And fame in time to come canonize us, […]

   • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXIV, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 206:

     First, our friendship began at that early time when alone it is unalloyed and sincere; secondly"—and here, in spite of her vivacity, Marie's voice trembled—"you are associated with the only being in the world I ever really loved; and thirdly, I have behaved exceedingly ill to you, and, consequently, feel it quite magnanimous not to hate you, which is the established rule on such occasions.

   • 1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, Act V, page 183:

     doolittle [sad but magnanimous] They played you off very cunning, Eliza, them two sportsmen.

   • 1923, Walter de la Mare, Seaton's Aunt:

     I felt vaguely he was a sneak, and remained quite unmollified by advances on his side, which, in a boy's barbarous fashion, unless it suited me to be magnanimous, I haughtily ignored.

Related terms

• magnanimity
• magnanimously
• magnanimousness

Translations

noble and generous in spirit

• Armenian: վեհանձն (hy) (vehanjn)
• Belarusian: вялікаду́шны (vjalikadúšny)
• Bulgarian: великоду́шен (bg) (velikodúšen)
• Catalan: magnànim
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 坦蕩／坦荡 (zh) (tǎndàng), 寛大 (zh), 寬宏大度／宽宏大度 (zh) (kuānhóng dàdù), 善意而有雅量

• Czech: velkodušný (cs)
• Danish: storsindet
• Dutch: grootmoedig (nl),edelmoedig (nl),onbaatzuchtig (nl)
• Esperanto: grandanima
• French: magnanime (fr)
• Galician: magnánimo
• German: großmütig (de), edelmütig (de), großzügig (de), großherzig (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: μεγαλόψυχος (megalópsukhos)

• Hindi: उदार (hi) (udār), महानुभाव (hi) (mahānubhāv), महामनस्क (mahāmnask)
• Hungarian: nagylelkű (hu)
• Icelandic: göfuglyndur; drenglyndur; stórlyndur; veglyndur
• Irish: móraigeanta, mórintinneach, mór, gartach (literary)
• Italian: magnanimo (it)
• Japanese: 寛大な (ja) (かんだいな, kandai-na)
• Latin: magnanimus
• Latvian: augstsirdīgs
• Macedonian: великодушен (velikodušen)
• Maori: ngākau oha
• Old English: miċelmōd
• Ottoman Turkish: كریم (kerim), شریف (şerif)
• Polish: wielkoduszny (pl)
• Portuguese: magnânimo (pt)
• Romanian: mărinimos (ro)
• Russian: великоду́шный (ru) (velikodúšnyj)
• Sanskrit: महात्मन् (sa) (mahātman)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: велико̀душан

  Roman: velikòdušan (sh)

• Slovak: veľkodušný
• Slovene: velikodušen (sl)
• Spanish: magnánimo (es)
• Swedish: storsint (sv)
• Turkish: cömert (tr)
• Ukrainian: великоду́шний (velykodúšnyj)
• Urdu: اَعْلیٰ ظَرْف (aʻlá z̤arf)