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Goodwill

n. kind, hopeful professional

What it means

Meaning 1

A friendly willingness to cooperate or think well of another party.

Reach for it when describing positive relations that make future cooperation easier

The shared festival built goodwill between neighborhoods that rarely met.

Meaning 2

The business value attached to reputation, relationships, and customer loyalty.

Reach for it when using the accounting or acquisition sense

The purchase price included goodwill built through decades of trusted service.

Words to choose between 8

By register, from playful at the top to literary at the bottom, and by meaning across. Tap a word to see when it fits.
Meaning 1Meaning 2
warm
professional
formal

Meaning 1: A friendly willingness to cooperate or think well of another party.

  • warm

    friendliness

    Fits when pleasant personal feeling is the main point

    Careful Friendliness can be momentary and does not imply future cooperation.

  • warm

    trust

    Fits when confidence in reliability supports the relationship

    Careful Goodwill may remain even before enough evidence exists for trust.

  • professional

    rapport

    Fits when mutual understanding develops through direct interaction

    Careful Rapport concerns connection, while goodwill can exist without close contact.

  • formal

    amity

    Fits when peaceful relations between groups need an elevated term

    Careful Amity sounds ceremonial for everyday teamwork.

Meaning 2: The business value attached to reputation, relationships, and customer loyalty.

  • professional

    brand value

    Fits when the commercial strength of a name is central

    Careful Brand value omits customer relationships and other acquired intangibles.

  • professional

    customer loyalty

    Fits when repeat patronage explains the value

    Careful Loyalty is narrower than the full goodwill recognized in a purchase.

  • professional

    reputation

    Fits when public regard is the intangible asset being discussed

    Careful Reputation is only one contributor to accounting goodwill.

  • formal

    intangibles

    Fits when several nonphysical business assets are grouped together

    Careful Not every intangible asset is goodwill under accounting rules.

Opposites 3

  • hostility
  • ill will
  • distrust

Common phrases 3

  • build goodwill

    Clear updates helped build goodwill during the noisy repairs.

  • gesture of goodwill

    The fee waiver was a gesture of goodwill after the delay.

  • business goodwill

    Business goodwill accounted for part of the acquisition price.

Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Vealhurl, Southern England accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Updated