Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary
charity (noun)1.
benevolent goodwill toward or love of humanity
2.
a) generosity and helpfulness especially toward the needy or suffering , also aid given to those in need
b) an institution engaged in relief of the poor
c) public provision for the relief of the needy
3.
a) a gift for public benevolent purposes
b) an institution (as a hospital) founded by such a gift
4.
lenient judgment of others mercy
Merriam-Webster Online Thesaurus
charity (noun)1.
the giving of necessities and especially money to the needy
SYNONIMS:
almsgiving, dole, philanthropyRELATED WORDS:
altruism, do-gooding, do-goodism, humanism, humanitarianism; beneficence, benevolence, goodwill; alms, benefaction, contribution, donation; relief, welfare; endowment, fund, grant, subsidy2.
a gift of money or its equivalent to a charity, humanitarian cause, or public institution
SYNONIMS:
alms, benefaction, beneficence, charity, donation, philanthropyRELATED WORDS:
offering, tithe; bequest, endowment, legacy; aid, assistance, dole, handout, relief, welfare; grant, subsidy; benevolence, bestowal, largesse ( largess), present, presentation3.
kind, gentle, or compassionate treatment especially towards someone who is undeserving of it
SYNONIMS:
charity, clemency, forbearance, lenience, leniency, lenity, mercifulness, quarterRELATED WORDS:
humanitarianism, philanthropy; empathy, pity, sympathy, understanding; commiseration, favor, grace; benevolence, care, compassion, gentleness, goodness, goodwill, humaneness, kindliness, kindness, meekness, mildness, niceness, softness, tenderness; altruism, generosity, magnanimity, nobility; affection, devotion, love, worshipNEAR ANTONYMS:
hard-heartedness, mercilessness, pitilessness, ruthlessness, uncharitableness; reprisal, requital, retaliation, retribution, revenge, vengeance; venom, vindictiveness, virulence, vitriol; atrocity, barbarity, brutality, cruelty, sadism, savageness, savagery, truculence, viciousness, violence, wantonness; castigation, chastisement, discipline, punishment, scolding; abhorrence, abomination, detestation, execration, hate, hatred, loathing; cattiness, malevolence, malice, maliciousness, malignancy, malignity, meanness, nastiness, spite, spitefulness, spleen; animosity, antagonism, antipathy, bitterness, enmity, gall, grudge, hostility, jealousy, pique, resentment; bile, jaundice, rancor; hatefulness, invidiousness; coarseness, hardness, harshness, roughness4.
the capacity for feeling for another's unhappiness or misfortune
SYNONIMS:
bigheartedness, charity, commiseration, compassion, feeling, good-heartedness, humanity, kindheartedness, kindliness, kindness, largeheartedness, mercy, pity, ruth, softheartedness, sympathy, warmheartednessRELATED WORDS:
feelings, responsiveness, sensibility, sensitivity; affection, love, regard; affinity, empathy, rapport; altruism, benevolence, benignancy, benignity, generosity, goodwill, humaneness, humanism, humanitarianism, philanthropyNEAR ANTONYMS:
callousness, coldness, disinterest, indifference, unconcern; cruelty, harshness; animosity, antipathy, dislike, hatred, hostility5.
kindly concern, interest, or support
SYNONIMS:
amity, benevolence, brotherhood, charity, cordiality, cordialness, fellowship, friendliness, friendship, gemütlichkeit, good-fellowship, kindliness, neighborlinessRELATED WORDS:
bonhomie, camaraderie, collegiality, community, companionship, company, comradeship; civility, comity, concord, harmony, rapport, rapprochement; charity, generosity; affinity, communion, empathy, kindness, sympathy, tolerance; altruism, philanthropy, selflessness, unselfishnessNEAR ANTONYMS:
disfavor, intolerance; animosity, antagonism, antipathy, enmity, hate, hatred, hostility, incivility, malice, rancor; belligerency, quarrelsomeness, querulousness