GOOD WILL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does good will mean? 

• GOOD WILL (noun)
  The noun GOOD WILL has 3 senses:

1. a disposition to kindness and compassion

2. (accounting) an intangible asset valued according to the advantage or reputation a business has acquired (over and above its tangible assets)

3. the friendly hope that something will succeed

  Familiarity information: GOOD WILL used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GOOD WILL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A disposition to kindness and compassion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

good will; goodwill; grace

Context example:

the victor's grace in treating the vanquished

Hypernyms ("good will" is a kind of...):

good nature (a cheerful, obliging disposition)

Sense 2

Meaning:

(accounting) an intangible asset valued according to the advantage or reputation a business has acquired (over and above its tangible assets)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting possession and transfer of possession

Synonyms:

good will; goodwill

Hypernyms ("good will" is a kind of...):

intangible; intangible asset (assets that are saleable though not material or physical)

Domain category:

accounting (a system that provides quantitative information about finances)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The friendly hope that something will succeed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

good will; goodwill

Hypernyms ("good will" is a kind of...):

friendliness (a feeling of liking for another person; enjoyment in their company)

 Context examples 

Fearing to ask any more advice, she did her best alone, and discovered that something more than energy and good will is necessary to make a cook.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

We all entered warmly into these views; and I may mention at once, that the principals themselves did so, shortly afterwards, with perfect good will and harmony.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Dashing at the black man, he smote at him with such good will that the other let his knife tinkle into the roadway, and hopped howling to a safer distance.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It's old man Challenger's show and we are here by his good will, so it would be rotten bad form if we didn't follow his instructions to the letter.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He whined placatingly, squirmed and wriggled to show his good will and intentions, and even ventured, as a bribe for peace, to lick Buck’s face with his warm wet tongue.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

This remark was not calculated to make Edward or Elinor more easy, nor to conciliate the good will of Lucy, who looked up at Marianne with no very benignant expression.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

My voice, although harsh, had nothing terrible in it; I thought, therefore, that if in the absence of his children I could gain the good will and mediation of the old De Lacey, I might by his means be tolerated by my younger protectors.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

It seemed as if Mr Shepherd, in this anxiety to bespeak Sir Walter's good will towards a naval officer as tenant, had been gifted with foresight; for the very first application for the house was from an Admiral Croft, with whom he shortly afterwards fell into company in attending the quarter sessions at Taunton; and indeed, he had received a hint of the Admiral from a London correspondent.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

If the good will lock themselves up, and if the wicked will still wander free, then alas for the world!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

If I had shown myself a sensitive dwarf to your false friend, pursued the little woman, shaking her head at me, with reproachful earnestness, how much of his help or good will do you think I should ever have had?

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)