welfare
noun · verb
Simple meaning
Health, safety, happiness and prosperity.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wehlferSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈwɛlfɛɹ
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
uncountable
Health, safety, happiness and prosperity; well-being in any respect.
uncountablechiefly usinformal
Shortened form of "welfare spending", "welfare payments", or "welfare assistance".
verb
transitive
To provide with welfare or aid.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Health, safety, happiness and prosperity; well-being in any respect.
Used this way, welfare is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- welfarist , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use welfare
- “She lives on welfare.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A case for a welfare worker.
A government that undertakes responsibility for the welfare of its citizens through programs in public health and public housing and pensions and unemployment compensation etc.
An organized activity to improve the condition of disadvantaged people in society.
Someone employed to provide social services (especially to the disadvantaged).
An administrative unit responsible for social work concerned with the welfare and vocational training of children.
A former executive department of the United States government.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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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.