Meaning & use

eleemosynary

adjective·Advanced

Relating to charity or almsgiving; of or dependent on charitable donations.

See it in a sentence

The hospital was originally founded as an eleemosynary institution for the poor.

Many old universities began as eleemosynary foundations supported by wealthy patrons.

A note on using this word

Eleemosynary is a rare, formal legal and historical term; 'charitable' is used in almost all everyday and even academic contexts instead.

Words with a similar meaning

charitablephilanthropic

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

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