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benefit

Syllabification: (ben·e·fit)
Pronunciation: /ˈbenəfit/

Translate benefit | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish
Definition of benefit

noun

  • 1an advantage or profit gained from something:tenants bought their houses with the benefit of a discount enjoy the benefits of being a member uninformed criticism is of benefit to no one
  • 2a payment or gift made by an employer, the state, or an insurance company:welfare benefits wages and benefits
  • 3a public performance or other entertainment of which the proceeds go to a particular charitable cause.

verb (benefits, benefiting or benefitting, benefited or benefitted)

[no object]
  • receive an advantage; profit; gain:areas that would benefit from regeneration
  • [with object] bring advantage to:the bill will benefit the nation

Phrases

benefit of clergy

  • 1 historical exemption of the English clergy and nuns from the jurisdiction of the ordinary civil courts, granted in the Middle Ages but abolished in 1827.
  • 2ecclesiastical sanction or approval:they lived together without benefit of clergy

the benefit of the doubt

a concession that a person or fact must be regarded as correct or justified, if the contrary has not been proven:I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt as to whether it was deliberate or not

for the benefit of

  • 1in order to help, guide, or be of service to:a man who has spent his life fighting evil for the benefit of the community
  • 2in order to interest or impress someone:it was all an act put on for his benefit

give someone the benefit of

often ironic explain or recount to someone at length:the whole assembly was given the benefit of his opinions

Origin:

late Middle English (originally denoting a kind deed or something well done): from Old French bienfet, from Latin benefactum 'good deed', from bene facere 'do good (to)'

Spelling rule

Do not double the final consonant when adding endings that begin with a vowel to a word that ends in a vowel plus a consonant, if the stress is not at the end of the word (as in target): (benefits, benefiting, benefited).

benefit in other Oxford dictionaries

Definition of benefit in the British & World English dictionary

Nearby words

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