benefit |ˈbɛnɪfɪt|
noun
1 an advantage or profit gained from something:
enjoy the benefits of being a member | [ mass noun ]
: the changes are of benefit to commerce.
2 a payment made by the state or an insurance scheme to someone entitled to receive it:
part-time jobs supplemented by means-tested benefits | [ mass noun ]
: families on benefit .
3 an event such as a concert or game, intended to raise money for a particular player or charity.
verb (
benefits,
benefiting or
benefitting,
benefited or
benefitted ) [ no obj. ]
receive an advantage; profit:
areas that would benefit from regeneration.
• [ with obj. ] bring advantage to:
the bill will benefit Britain.
PHRASES
benefit of clergy 1 historical exemption of the English clergy and nuns from the jurisdiction of the ordinary civil courts, granted in the Middle Ages but abolished in 1827.
2 ecclesiastical sanction:
they lived together without benefit of clergy .
the benefit of the doubt a concession that a person or fact must be regarded as correct or justified, if the contrary has not been proven:
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt as to whether it was deliberate or not.
for the benefit of in order to help or be useful to:
a venue run for the benefit of the community. • in order to interest or impress (someone):
it was all an act put on for his benefit.
ORIGIN late Middle English (originally denoting a kind deed or something well done): from Old French
bienfet, from Latin
benefactum ‘good deed’, from
bene facere ‘do good (to)’.
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