Meaning & use
kindness
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountableapproving
Friendly, generous, caring behavior toward other people or animals.
Grammar: No plural here: show kindness, not kindnesses.
Patterns
- kindness to someone
- out of kindness
The nurses treated him with great kindness.
She helped the stranger out of pure kindness.
A little kindness can make a hard day better.
nouncountable
A kind act or favor.
Grammar: Countable here: a kindness, many kindnesses; usually after do or show.
Patterns
- do someone a kindness
- a kindness to someone
Thank you for your many kindnesses.
It would be a kindness to call her.
He did me a kindness by lending his car.
Word forms
| plural | kindnesses |
|---|
Common combinations
- show kindness
- Please show kindness to new students.
- act of kindness
- A small act of kindness changed her week.
- random kindness
- Random kindness from strangers kept us going.
- kindness to animals
- The charity promotes kindness to animals.
- repay a kindness
- I hope to repay your kindness someday.
Synonyms and how they differ
- generosity
- Focuses on giving freely of money, time or help, whereas kindness is wider and includes gentle manners.
- compassion
- Stresses sympathy for someone's suffering, not just friendly behavior.
- goodwill
- Describes a friendly attitude, often in groups or relationships, rather than an act.
- benevolence
- A formal word for a wish to do good, often by someone in power.
Opposites
Word family
- kind adjective
- friendly and caring
- kindly adverb
- in a kind way
- unkind adjective
- not kind; unfriendly or harsh
- kind-hearted adjective
- naturally kind
Commonly confused: kindness or kind (noun)?
kindness vs kind (noun)
Kind as a noun means type or sort (a kind of fruit); kindness is the quality of being caring.
Practice
'Thank you for your many ___' - which form fits when you mean several kind acts?
Choose one answer.
For separate kind acts, kindness is countable, so the plural kindnesses fits. 'Kinds' means types, and 'kindly' is an adverb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “kindness”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.