Adjacent Words

Welfare definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WELFARE, n. [well and fare, a good faring; G.]
1. Exemption from misfortune, sickness, calamity or evil; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life; prosperity; happiness; applied to persons.
2. Exemption from any unusual evil or calamity; the enjoyment of peace and prosperity, or the ordinary blessings of society and civil government; applied to states.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: governmental provision of economic assistance to persons in need; "she lives on welfare" [syn: social welfare, welfare, public assistance]
2: something that aids or promotes well-being; "for the benefit of all" [syn: benefit, welfare]
3: a contented state of being happy and healthy and prosperous; "the town was finally on the upbeat after our recent troubles" [syn: wellbeing, well-being, welfare, upbeat, eudaemonia, eudaimonia] [ant: ill-being]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from the phrase wel faren to fare well Date: 14th century 1. the state of doing well especially in respect to good fortune, happiness, well-being, or prosperity <must look out for your own welfare> 2. a. aid in the form of money or necessities for those in need b. an agency or program through which such aid is distributed II. adjective Date: 1903 1. of, relating to, or concerned with welfare and especially with improvement of the welfare of disadvantaged social groups <welfare legislation> 2. receiving public welfare benefits <welfare families>

Britannica Concise

Any of a variety of governmental programs that provide assistance to those in need. Programs include pensions, disability and unemployment insurance, family allowances, survivor benefits, and national health insurance. The earliest modern welfare laws were enacted in Germany in the 1880s (see social insurance), and by the 1920s and '30s most Western nations had adopted similar programs. Most industrialized countries require firms to insure workers for disability (see workers' compensation), so that they have income if they are injured, whether temporarily or permanently. For disability from illness unrelated to occupational injury, most industrial nations pay a short-term benefit followed by a long-term pension. Many countries pay a family allowance to reduce the poverty of large families or to increase the birthrate. Survivor benefits, provided for widows below pension age left with a dependent child, vary considerably among nations and generally cease if the woman remarries. Of the wealthier nations, only the U.S. fails to provide national health insurance other than for the aged and the poor (see Medicare and Medicaid).

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 well-being, happiness; health and prosperity (of a person or a community etc.). 2 (Welfare) a the maintenance of persons in such a condition esp. by statutory procedure or social effort. b financial support given for this purpose. Phrases and idioms: welfare state 1 a system whereby the State undertakes to protect the health and well-being of its citizens, esp. those in financial or social need, by means of grants, pensions, etc. 2 a country practising this system. welfare work organized effort for the welfare of the poor, disabled, etc. Etymology: ME f. WELL(1) + FARE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Welfare Wel"fare`, n. [Well + fare to go, to proceed, to happen.] Well-doing or well-being in any respect; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life; exemption from any evil or calamity; prosperity; happiness. How to study for the people's welfare. --Shak. In whose deep eyes Men read the welfare of the times to come. --Emerson.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. The welfare of a person or group is their health, comfort, and happiness. I do not think he is considering Emma's welfare... He was the head of a charity for the welfare of children. N-UNCOUNT: usu with poss 2. Welfare services are provided to help with people's living conditions and financial problems. Child welfare services are well established and comprehensive... He has urged complete reform of the welfare system. ADJ: usu ADJ n 3. In the United States, welfare is money that is paid by the government to people who are unemployed, poor, or sick. States such as Michigan and Massachusetts are making deep cuts in welfare...

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. Prosperity, happiness, success, weal, well-being, advantage, benefit, profit.

Moby Thesaurus

ADC, Easy Street, Medicaid, Medicare, advantage, affluence, aid, alimony, allotment, allowance, almsgiving, altruistic, annuity, assistance, avail, bed of roses, behalf, behoof, beneficent, benefit, benevolent, benison, bighearted, blessing, boon, bounty, charitable, child welfare, clover, comfort, commonweal, contentment, cradle-to-grave security, depletion allowance, dole, ease, easy circumstances, eleemosynary, felicity, fellowship, financial assistance, fleshpots, fortune, freehearted, gain, generous, good, gracious life, gracious living, grant, grant-in-aid, greathearted, guaranteed annual income, guaranteed income, happiness, health insurance, help, humanitarian, interest, lap of luxury, largehearted, life of ease, loaves and fishes, luck, luxury, old-age assistance, old-age insurance, pecuniary aid, pension, philanthropic, price support, profit, prosperity, prosperousness, public assistance, public welfare, relief, retirement benefits, satisfaction, scholarship, security, sickness insurance, social insurance, social security, social service, social welfare, social work, socialized medicine, state medicine, stipend, subsidization, subsidy, subvention, success, support, tax benefit, the affluent life, the good life, thriving condition, unemployment compensation, unemployment insurance, upward mobility, velvet, weal, wealth, welfare aid, welfare capitalism, welfare payments, welfare state, welfare statism, welfare statist, welfare work, welfarism, welfarist, well-being, womb-to-tomb security, world of good