Make Your Point: MAGNANIMOUS

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pronounce MAGNANIMOUS:

mag NAN uh muss

connect this word to others:

When I hug my cat and tell her she's a precious little soul, it makes me think of the Latin animus ("soul") and anima ("spirit")—the sources of wonderful words like

animal,

animate,

u_animity ("one-spiritedness: agreement among a group"),

e__anmity ("even-spiritedness: calmness in mind and temper"),

l___animity ("long-spiritedness: patience and emotional strength"),

and the one we're checking out today: magnanimity ("big-spiritedness: generosity and forgiveness").

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

Inside the words "magnanimity" (the noun) and "magnanimous" (the adjective), you can almost see the Latin bits that mean "big or great" (magnus) and "soul or spirit" (animus).

In English, "magnanimity" dates back to the 1300s and first meant "big-spiritedness" in the sense of "pride, bravery, and nobility."

Over time, the meaning narrowed, and today magnanimity is usually the kind of generosity and noble-mindedness that lets you easily forgive other people for offending you.

In other words, today, to be magnanimous is to be generous or giving in spirit, often because you're willing to forgive people when they treat you badly.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "The bishop is magnanimous;" "The story of Les Miserables starts with a magnanimous bishop."

Other forms:

The adverb is "magnanimously," and the noun is "magnanimity," pronounced "mag nuh NIM ut ee."

how to use it:

"Magnanimous" is formal and semi-common, with a very positive tone.

Call someone magnanimous, or call their behavior or comments magnanimous, when they choose to be kind, or choose to forgive, or choose to let someone else take all the credit or glory—even though they could very reasonably take offense, hold a grudge, claim the credit or the glory, or be a sore winner or a sore loser.

We talk about magnanimous people and their magnanimous responses, reactions, attitudes, and comments. And we say that people are magnanimous in victory or in defeat.

examples:

"[Chris Brown] is feeling so confident these days that he's given his album the magnanimous sub-title Forgive All My Enemies."
— Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 10 March 2011

"He explained to me... that he personally had no objection to smoking, but that, alas, the school's policy was against smoking in the instructors' room. He cut short my profuse apologies with a magnanimous wave of his hand."
— J. D. Salinger, "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period," Nine Stories, 1953

has this page helped you understand "magnanimous"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this term, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "magnanimous" without saying "giving" or "forgiving."

try it out:

From the first episode of the TV show Firefly, here's a scene that shows Mal being magnanimous:

Zoe: Sir, we don't want to deal with Patience again.

Mal: Why not?

Zoe: She shot you.

Mal: Well, yeah, she did a bit... It's a long time since Patience shot me and that was due to a legitimate conflict of interest. I got no grudge.

I love that about Mal! He's willing to overlook what Patience did, consider her perspective, forgive it and put it in the past. It's magnanimous.

With this in mind as an example, could you talk about another magnanimous person, real or fictional? What have they done or said that reveals their magnanimity?

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game this month is "Idiom Savant."

Flex your facility with familiar phrases by quickly pairing them off with words closely associated in meaning.

For example, you might pair the idiom "a cat has nine lives" with the word "resilient;" "water under the bridge" with "inconsequential;" and "when it rains, it pours" with "proliferate."

Try these today:

Pair these idioms...

1. all things must pass
2. laugh and the world laughs with you
3. that's the way the cookie crumbles
4. time and time again
5. when the stars align

With these words...

A. dovetail
B. ephemeral
C. freudenfreude
D. resignation
E. umpteen

To see the answers, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. The precise opposite of MAGNANIMOUS is PARVANIMOUS, a rare word that means

A. lacking in spirit: dull, lifeless.
B. faint-hearted: timid, fearful, cowardly.
C. small-minded: petty, selfish, holding a grudge.

2. To be "ferocious in battle" and "magnanimous in victory," as Colonel Tim Collins urged members of the Royal Irish Regiment to be, would probably involve _____ after winning the battle.

A. executing the enemy's survivors
B. allowing the enemy's survivors to march away
C. tending to the injured among the enemy's survivors

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
  36 ways to study words.
  Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
  How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
How to improve any sentence.
How to motivate our kids to write.
How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > MAGNANIMOUS

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