goodwill

• good-will (archaic)

From Middle English *goodwille, good wille, possibly from Old English *gōdwille (compare gōdwillende (“well-pleased”)). Compare also Scots guidwilly, guidwillie (“displaying goodwill”). By surface analysis, good +‎ will.

Cognate with Scots guidwill (“goodwill”), Middle Low German gūtwille (“goodwill”), Old High German guotwilligi (“goodwill”), Old Danish godvilje (“goodwill”), Icelandic góðvilji, góðvili (“goodwill”), Icelandic góðvild (“goodness”).

The sense "thrift shop" is a genericized trademark of the US-based chain Goodwill Industries.

• IPA^(key): /ˌɡʊdˈwɪl/, [ˌɡʊdˈwɪl]

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪl
• Hyphenation: good‧will

goodwill (usually uncountable, plural goodwills)

1. A favorably disposed attitude toward someone or something.

   Synonym: benevolence

2. (accounting) The value of a business entity not directly attributable to its tangible assets and liabilities, deriving from factors such as consumer loyalty to the brand.
3. (business) The ability of an individual or business to exert influence within a community, club, market or another type of group, without having to resort to the use of an asset (such as money or property), either directly or by the creation of a lien.
4. (business, trade unionism) The willingness of a worker to perform activities not strictly within the scope of the employment contract and not just work to rule.
   • 2007 [1972], John Duddington, quoting Tom Denning, Baron Denning, Employment Law, Pearson Education, →ISBN, page 101:

     As Denning MR said in Secretary of State for Employment v ASLEF (No. 2) (1972): 'a man is not bound to do more for his employer than his contract requires. He can withdraw his goodwill if he pleases.'

   • 2022 November 16, Graham Eccles, “The Rest Day Working saga...”, in RAIL, number 970, page 32:

     The downside of this cost-saving strategy was that the train service could only be covered by goodwill. Whenever there was a spat between ASLEF and management - regardless of cause - the withdrawal of this goodwill became a stick with which unions could beat management.

5. (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) (countable, uncommon, usually capitalized, Canada, US) A thrift shop.
   • 1990, Karen Christensen, Home Ecology: Simple and Practical Ways to Green Your Home, Fulcrum Publishing, page 65:

     Buy from goodwills, garage sales, friends, and neighbors. Choose beautiful, functional, durable items made by craftspeople.

   • 2008, Esther Carney, Avenging Angel, zeus, →ISBN, page 445:

     Eventually she made her way onto a train, disguised in a wig and wheeling a pram complete with lifelike baby doll, just purchased from a goodwill store. Everyone seemed to want to look at 'her baby' and she had to pull the blankets over it as far as they would go or suspicions would have been aroused. A woman in a colorful dress who was sitting opposite Angie […]

   • 2025 January 7, Robert Garcia, Died Three Times Lived Once, AuthorHouse, →ISBN:

     And I got tired of mom buying me used clothes from a goodwill store. I always thought back then, if Dad wouldn't had drank so much, he could have given mom a little bit more money to clothe us better. I say us, remember I had two sisters, and mom would buy them used clothes, also […]

• ill will

goodwill (third-person singular simple present goodwills, present participle goodwilling, simple past and past participle goodwilled)

1. (transitive) To voluntarily provide or cover some or all of the cost of (something) to maintain goodwill.

   The company goodwilled the cost of the repairs.

• bona fides

Borrowed from English goodwill.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡut.ʋɪl/, [ˈɡut.ʋɪl], [ˈɡud.wɪl]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: good‧will

goodwill m (uncountable, no diminutive)

1. goodwill

Unadapted borrowing from English goodwill.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡudwil/, [ˈɡudwil]
• Rhymes: -udwil

goodwill

1. goodwill (intangible business value)

• liikearvo

• “goodwill”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2 July 2023