Meaning of goodwill in English

goodwill

noun

/ɡʊdˈwɪl/ uk

/ɡʊdˈwɪl/

goodwill noun (FRIENDSHIP)

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[ U ]

friendly and helpful feelings:

The school has to rely on the goodwill of the parents to help it raise money.

gesture of goodwill/goodwill gesture Releasing the hostages has been seen as a gesture of goodwill/a goodwill gesture.

[ U ]

part of a company's value that includes things that cannot be directly measured, for example, its good reputation or its customers' loyalty:

The company's assets are worth $200 million, plus goodwill.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Friendly

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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:

Kind & thoughtful

Estimating value

goodwill noun (CHARITY)

Goodwill

(also informal the Goodwill)

abbreviation for Goodwill Industries: a U.S.-based organization that collects old clothes and other unwanted things and sells them at low prices in special stores. The money is used to provide jobs, training, and services for people who are poor and cannot find work:

My aunt gave me some towels, and I gave them to the Goodwill.

SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases

Organizations - charities

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(Definition of goodwill from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

goodwill | Intermediate English

goodwill

noun [ U ]

/ˈɡʊdˈwɪl/

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a friendly attitude in which you wish that good things happen to people:

We hope the negotiations will take place in an atmosphere of openness and goodwill.

(Definition of goodwill from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

goodwill | Business English

goodwill

noun [ U ]

/ɡʊdˈwɪl/ us

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COMMERCE

the value to a company or organization of things that cannot be directly measured, for example, its good reputation or its customers' loyalty:

Charitable endeavours are important to us in terms of goodwill.

ACCOUNTING

the difference between the value of a company's assets and what profit it is expected to make in the future, which is included in the price paid when it is bought or sold:

We expect the business to raise at least $100,000 in goodwill.

(Definition of goodwill from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of goodwill

goodwill

Demonstrated leadership and care for the team over long periods of time is what gives a leader the banked goodwill to implement difficult changes.

From Fast Company

And they're singing about peace, unity and goodwill in 2017.

From NPR

Where were the religious leaders, the ones who preach peace and goodwill?

From The Atlantic

They touch on everything from changes in policy during war to instructions on care and feeding of visiting dance troupes traveling on goodwill missions.

From NPR

It was not to goose the local economy, and it was not to teach youths about peace and goodwill, he concluded.

From Reuters

There's no telling how long the island's goodwill could withstand such a strain.

From Foreign Policy

It's used that goodwill to generate excitement whenever it launches in a new country.

From CNET

But any tabloid goodwill she earned was short-lived.

From Business Insider

I'm ready and eager to work with anyone who is willing to proceed in a spirit of goodwill.

From Huffington Post

And yet goodwill tells the human story as few ideas can.

From MLive.com

So he's basically saying, look, if people are coming, that means they have goodwill.

From NPR

However, he rarely collected on this goodwill because he didn't know what he wanted.

From TIME

It will also book a gain from the sale of about 850 million pounds after goodwill, separation and transaction costs, the bank said.

From Bloomberg

It then records the difference between the purchase price and the net assets it bought as goodwill.

From Bloomberg

His life is confined to a whirlwind of goodwill trips, photo ops with foreign dignitaries, and attendance at arts events.

From NPR

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.

What is the pronunciation of goodwill?

Translations of goodwill

in Chinese (Traditional)

善意，友善，友好，親善, 商家信譽…

Meaning of goodwill in English

goodwill noun (FRIENDSHIP)

goodwill noun (CHARITY)

goodwill | Intermediate English

goodwill | Business English

Examples of goodwill

Translations of goodwill

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