GOODWILL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does goodwill mean? 

• GOODWILL (noun)
  The noun GOODWILL has 3 senses:

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

2. the friendly hope that something will succeed

3. a disposition to kindness and compassion

  Familiarity information: GOODWILL used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GOODWILL (noun)

Sense 1

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 ("goodwill" 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 2

Meaning:

The friendly hope that something will succeed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

good will; goodwill

Hypernyms ("goodwill" is a kind of...):

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

Sense 3

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 ("goodwill" is a kind of...):

good nature (a cheerful, obliging disposition)

 Context examples 

They got £ 4700 for the goodwill and interest, which wasn’t near as much as father could have got if he had been alive.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It gave her a very strong claim on my goodwill.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

In half the time which he had named, he had captured the housekeeper’s goodwill and was chatting with her as if he had known her for years.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

And the Spy-glass is sold, lease and goodwill and rigging; and the old girl's off to meet me.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

It is the most intimate sign of my goodwill.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

She ought to go—and she was longing to see her; the resemblance of their present situations increasing every other motive of goodwill.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

But above all, above respect and esteem, there was a motive within her of goodwill which could not be overlooked.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

Goodwill supplying the place of experience, his character needed no attestation.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Thus a circumstance occurred, while the sisters were together in their own room after breakfast, which sunk the heart of Mrs. Jennings still lower in her estimation; because, through her own weakness, it chanced to prove a source of fresh pain to herself, though Mrs. Jennings was governed in it by an impulse of the utmost goodwill.

(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)

From his bosom to his lips came the crumpled veil, and he breathed a vow that if valor and goodwill could raise him to his lady's side, then death alone should hold him back from her.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)