goodness

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

Quality of being good

Nouns

1. good, goodness; excellence, merit; value, worth, price; welfare, benefit, blessing. See virtue, benevolence, probity, utility.

2. (item of best quality) masterpiece, chef d'œuvre, prime, flower, cream, pride, elite, pick, classic, flower of the flock, salt of the earth, eighth wonder of the world; prime, heyday, zenith. Slang, God's gift to the world. See superiority, perfection.

3. (item of good quality) gem [of the first water]; bijou, precious stone, jewel, diamond [in the rough], ruby, brilliant, treasure; good thing; rara avis, one in a million. Slang, class act, something else, cat's meow or pajamas, living end, GQ, good shit.

4. good person, man, or woman, model, paragon, prince, angel.

Verbs

1. produce or do good, be beneficial, profit (see utility); serve, help, avail, [confer a] benefit; be the making of, do a world of good, make a man or woman of; produce a good effect; do a good turn, improve (see improvement).

2. be good, stand the test; pass muster; challenge comparison, vie, emulate, rival.

Adjectives

1. good, beneficial, valuable, of value, excellent, divine, heavenly, goodly; serviceable, useful; advantageous, profitable, edifying, salutary, healthful (see health); genuine (see truth); moderately good, tolerable (see mediocrity); elite, prime, tiptop, great, top-drawer, dandy, all wool and a yard wide; up to snuff, par, or the mark; above par. Informal, grand, topnotch, A-1, dynamite, jim-dandy, out of this world, not half bad. Slang, bang-up, swell, bodacious, zanzy, all right, cool, copacetic, bad[ass], hard, hellacious, mad, nasty, out of sight, phat, aces, aggro, bitchin', sweet, awesome, boss, crazy, far out, real gone, george, ginchy, gnarly, jake, keen, knockout, mean, rad[ical], righteous, something else, to die, too much.

2. harmless, unobnoxious, innocuous, innocent, inoffensive.

3. virtuous, moral, creditable, laudable, exemplary (see virtue).

Adverbs — to the good, well and good, for the best, beneficially, in one's favor or interest[s], handsome is as handsome does; see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil. Slang, like a mojo.

Quotations — I hope there is a hell for the good somewhere (Eugene O'Neill), Good merchandise, even when hidden, soon finds buyers (Plautus), Nature made him, and then broke the mould (Ludovico Ariosto).

Antonyms, see badness, evildoer.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

Syn. decency, morality, honesty; see virtue 1 , 2 .

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

virtue, excellence, righteousness, uprightness, morality, integrity, kindness, wholesomeness, benevolence.

ANT.: badness, wickedness, evil

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun The quality or state of being morally sound: good, morality, probity, rectitude, righteousness, rightness, uprightness, virtue, virtuousness. See RIGHT.