Kind

• POS: Adjective, Noun

CIDE DICTIONARY

Kind, a. [AS. cynde, gecynde, natural, innate, prop. an old p. p. from the root of E. kin. See Kin kindred.].

•  Characteristic of the species; belonging to one's nature; natural; native.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]

  "It becometh sweeter than it should be, and loseth the kind taste."  [1913 Webster]
•  Having feelings befitting our common nature; congenial; sympathetic; as, a kind man; a kind heart.  [1913 Webster]

  "Yet was he kind, or if severe in aught,
  The love he bore to learning was his fault."  [1913 Webster]
•  Showing tenderness or goodness; disposed to do good and confer happiness; averse to hurting or paining; benevolent; benignant; gracious.  [1913 Webster]

  "He is kind unto the unthankful and to evil."  [1913 Webster]

  "O cruel Death, to those you take more kind
  Than to the wretched mortals left behind."  [1913 Webster]

  "A fellow feeling makes one wondrous kind."  [1913 Webster]
•  Proceeding from, or characterized by, goodness, gentleness, or benevolence; as, a kind act.  Tennyson.  [1913 Webster]
•  Gentle; tractable; easily governed; as, a horse kind in harness.

Syn. -- Benevolent; benign; beneficent; bounteous; gracious; propitious; generous; forbearing; indulgent; tender; humane; compassionate; good; lenient; clement; mild; gentle; bland; obliging; friendly; amicable. See Obliging.

Kind, n. [OE. kinde, cunde, AS. cynd. See Kind, a.].

•  Nature; natural instinct or disposition.  [1913 Webster]

  "He knew by kind and by no other lore."  [1913 Webster]

  "Some of you, on pure instinct of nature,
  Are led by kind t'admire your fellow-creature."  [1913 Webster]
•  Race; genus; species; generic class; as, in mankind or humankind.  Chaucer.  [1913 Webster]

  "Every kind of beasts, and of birds."  [1913 Webster]

  "She follows the law of her kind."  [1913 Webster]

  "Here to sow the seed of bread,
  That man and all the kinds be fed."  [1913 Webster]
•  Sort; type; class; nature; style; character; fashion; manner; variety; description; as, there are several kinds of eloquence, of style, and of music; many kinds of government; various kinds of soil, etc.  [1913 Webster]

  "How diversely Love doth his pageants play,
  And snows his power in variable kinds !"  [1913 Webster]

  "There is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds."  [1913 Webster]

  "Diogenes was asked in a kind of scorn: What was the matter that philosophers haunted rich men, and not rich men philosophers?"  [1913 Webster]

  "Tax on tillage was often levied in kind upon corn."

A kind of, something belonging to the class of; something like to; -- said loosely or slightingly. In kind, in the produce or designated commodity itself, as distinguished from its value in money.

Syn. -- Sort; species; type; class; genus; nature; style; character; breed; set.

Kind, v. t. [See Kin.].

 To beget.  Spenser.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Kind, n.
1 a a race or species (human kind). b a natural group of animals, plants, etc. (the wolf kind).
2 class, type, sort, variety (what kind of job are you looking for?).

Idiom

kind of colloq. to some extent (felt kind of sorry; I kind of expected it). a kind of used to imply looseness, vagueness, exaggeration, etc., in the term used (a kind of Jane Austen of our times; I suppose he's a kind of doctor). in kind
1 in the same form, likewise (was insulted and replied in kind).
2 (of payment) in goods or labour as opposed to money (received their wages in kind).
3 character, quality (differ in degree but not in kind). law of kind archaic nature in general; the natural order.
nothing of the kind
1 not at all like the thing in question.
2 (expressing denial) not at all. of its kind within the limitations of its own class (good of its kind).
of a kind
1 derog. scarcely deserving the name (a choir of a kind).
2 similar in some important respect (they're two of a kind). one's own kind those with whom one has much in common. something of the kind something like the thing in question.

Usage

In sense 2, these (or those) kind is often encountered when followed by a plural, as in I don't like these kind of things, but this kind and these kinds are usually preferred.
3 each of the elements of the Eucharist (communion under (or in) both kinds).
4 the manner or fashion natural to a person etc. (act after their kind; true to kind).

Kind, adj.
1 of a friendly, generous, benevolent, or gentle nature.
2 (usu. foll. by to) showing friendliness, affection, or consideration.
3 a affectionate. b archaic loving.

Etymology

OE gecynde (as KIND(1)): orig. = 'natural, native'

THESAURUS

Kind

Christian, Christlike, Christly, accommodating, advantageous, affable, affectionate, agreeable, altruistic, amiable, amicable, animal kingdom, approachable, auspicious, beneficent, beneficial, benevolent, benign, benignant, blood, body-build, bon, bonny, brand, braw, breed, brood, brotherly, bueno, capital, cast, character, characteristic, characteristics, charitable, clan, class, clement, cogent, color, commendable, compassionate, complaisant, complexion, compliant, composition, conciliatory, congenial, considerate, constituents, constitution, cooperative, cordial, courteous, crasis, decent, deme, denomination, description, designation, dharma, diathesis, disposition, eleemosynary, elegant, estimable, ethos, excellent, expedient, fair, family, famous, favorable, feather, fiber, fine, folk, forbearing, forgiving, form, frame, fraternal, friendlike, friendly, generous, genial, genius, genre, gens, gentle, genus, good, good-hearted, good-humored, good-natured, good-tempered, goodly, gracious, grain, grand, habit, harmonious, healthy, helpful, house, hue, human, humane, humanitarian, humor, humors, ilk, indulgent, kidney, kin, kindhearted, kindly, kindly-disposed, label, laudable, lenient, line, lineage, long-suffering, longanimous, lot, loving, magnanimous, make, makeup, manner, mark, matriclan, merciful, mold, nation, nature, neighborlike, neighborly, nice, noble, number, obliging, openhearted, order, overindulgent, overpermissive, patient, patriclan, peaceable, people, permissive, persuasion, philanthropic, phratry, phyle, phylum, physique, placable, plant kingdom, pleasant, profitable, property, propitious, quality, race, regal, responsive, royal, sept, shape, simpatico, sisterly, skillful, sociable, softhearted, somatotype, sort, sound, sparing, species, spirit, splendid, stamp, stem, stirps, stock, strain, streak, stripe, style, suchness, sweet-tempered, sympathetic, sympathique, sympathizing, system, temper, temperament, tendency, tender, tenderhearted, tenor, the like of, the likes of, thoughtful, tolerant, tone, totem, tribe, type, understanding, unhostile, unresentful, unrevengeful, useful, valid, variety, vein, very good, virtuous, warm, warm-hearted, warmhearted, way, well-affected, well-disposed, well-intentioned, well-meaning, well-meant

ROGET THESAURUS

Kind

Class

N class, division, category, categorema, head, order, section, department, subdepartment, province, domain, kind, sort, genus, species, variety, family, order, kingdom, race, tribe, caste, sept, clan, breed, type, subtype, kit, sect, set, subset, assortment, feather, kidney, suit, range, gender, sex, kin, manner, description, denomination, designation, rubric, character, stamp predicament, indication, particularization, selection, specification, similarity.

Benevolence

N benevolence, Christian charity, God's love, God's grace, good will, philanthropy, unselfishness, good nature, good feeling, good wishes, kindness, kindliness, loving-kindness, benignity, brotherly love, charity, humanity, fellow-feeling, sympathy, goodness of heart, warmth of heart, bonhomie, kind-heartedness, amiability, milk of human kindness, tenderness, love, friendship, toleration, consideration, generosity, mercy, charitableness, bounty, almsgiving, good works, beneficence, the luxury of doing good, acts of kindness, a good turn, good offices, kind offices good treatment, kind treatment, good Samaritan, sympathizer, bon enfant, altruist, benevolent, kind, kindly, well-meaning, amiable, obliging, accommodating, indulgent, gracious, complacent, good-humored, warm-hearted, kind-hearted, tender-hearted, large-hearted, broad- hearted, merciful, charitable, beneficent, humane, benignant, bounteous, bountiful, good-natured, well-natured, spleenless, sympathizing, sympathetic, complaisant, well-meant, well-intentioned, fatherly, motherly, brotherly, sisterly, paternal, maternal, fraternal, sororal, friendly, with a good intention, with the best intentions, Int, Godspeed!, much good may it do!, act a charity sometimes, a tender heart, a will inflexible, de mortuis nil nisi bonum, say only good things about the dead, don't speak ill of the dead, kind words are more than coronets, quando amigo pide no hay manana, the social smile, the sympathetic tear.