magnanimous

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

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

• Audio (US):

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• Audio (General Australian):

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• Rhymes: -ænɪməs

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 Eld for R Bonian and H 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.

• magnanimity
• magnanimously
• magnanimousness