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charity

noun

Simple meaning

Benevolence to others less fortunate than ourselves.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

chehrihtee

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈtʃɛɹɪti

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. uncountable

    Benevolence to others less fortunate than ourselves; the providing of goods or money to those in need.

  2. countable

    An organization, the objective of which is to carry out a charitable purpose.

  3. In general, an attitude of kindness and understanding towards others, now especially suggesting generosity.

  4. The 107th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A2 · Elementary (estimated)
Frequency
Common
Typical Use
General English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Benevolence to others less fortunate than ourselves; the providing of goods or money to those in need.

Used this way, charity is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly warm, approving pull. It suits reflective writing more than quick conversation.

Emotional tone
Positive
Formality
Slightly formal
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Fortunate or pleasantly unexpected
Usage feel
Reflective and slightly elevated

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use charity

  • “Many people donate to charity to help those in need.”

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Organization

charity organizationcharity work

Institution

charity school

Christian

christian charity

Other combinations

public charityprivate charity

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • charity casenounCompound term

    A case for a welfare worker.

  • charity shotnounCompound term

    An unhindered basketball shot from the foul line.

  • charity thrownounCompound term

    An unhindered basketball shot from the foul line.

  • charity tossnounCompound term

    An unhindered basketball shot from the foul line.

  • public charitynounCompound term

    A charity that is deemed to receive the major part of its support from the public (rather than from a small group of individuals).

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

  • charitableadjectiveRelated term

    Relating to or characterized by charity.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.