Monday, May 11, 2009

munificent

munificent \myoo-NIF-i-suhnt\, adjective:

Very liberal in giving or bestowing; very generous; lavish.

Another munificent friend has given me the most splendid reclining chair conceivable.
-- George Eliot, Letters
The fleeting movement of air inside the black tunnel before and after the passage of a train made it a source of refreshment more munificent than a roaring window air conditioner.
-- Norma Field, From My Grandmother's Bedside: Sketches of Postwar Tokyo
John Sr.'s paycheck, while hardly munificent, was steady, and frugality did the rest.
-- Sylvia Nasar, A Beautiful Mind

Munificent is from Latin munificus, "generous, bountiful," from munus, "gift." The quality of being munificent is munificence.

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