Be*nef"i*cence (?), n. [L. beneficentia, fr. beneficus: cf. F. b'en'eficence. See Benefice.]
The practice of doing good; active goodness, kindness, or charity; bounty springing from purity and goodness.
And whose beneficence no charge exhausts.
Cowper.
Syn. -- See Benevolence.
© Webster 1913.