Welfare

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: wel=fare

CIDE DICTIONARY

Welfare, n. [Well + fare to go, to proceed, to happen.].

 Well-doing or well-being in any respect; the enjoyment of health and the common blessings of life; exemption from any evil or calamity; prosperity; happiness.  [1913 Webster]
"How to study for the people's welfare."  [1913 Webster]
"In whose deep eyes
Men read the welfare of the times to come."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Welfare, n.
1 well-being, happiness; health and prosperity (of a person or a community etc.).
2 (Welfare) a the maintenance of persons in such a condition esp. by statutory procedure or social effort. b financial support given for this purpose.

Idiom

welfare state
1 a system whereby the State undertakes to protect the health and well-being of its citizens, esp. those in financial or social need, by means of grants, pensions, etc.
2 a country practising this system. welfare work organized effort for the welfare of the poor, disabled, etc.

Etymology

ME f. WELL(1) + FARE

THESAURUS

Welfare

ADC, Easy Street, Medicaid, Medicare, advantage, affluence, aid, alimony, allotment, allowance, almsgiving, altruistic, annuity, assistance, avail, bed of roses, behalf, behoof, beneficent, benefit, benevolent, benison, bighearted, blessing, boon, bounty, charitable, child welfare, clover, comfort, commonweal, contentment, cradle-to-grave security, depletion allowance, dole, ease, easy circumstances, eleemosynary, felicity, fellowship, financial assistance, fleshpots, fortune, freehearted, gain, generous, good, gracious life, gracious living, grant, grant-in-aid, greathearted, guaranteed annual income, guaranteed income, happiness, health insurance, help, humanitarian, interest, lap of luxury, largehearted, life of ease, loaves and fishes, luck, luxury, old-age assistance, old-age insurance, pecuniary aid, pension, philanthropic, price support, profit, prosperity, prosperousness, public assistance, public welfare, relief, retirement benefits, satisfaction, scholarship, security, sickness insurance, social insurance, social security, social service, social welfare, social work, socialized medicine, state medicine, stipend, subsidization, subsidy, subvention, success, support, tax benefit, the affluent life, the good life, thriving condition, unemployment compensation, unemployment insurance, upward mobility, velvet, weal, wealth, welfare aid, welfare capitalism, welfare payments, welfare state, welfare statism, welfare statist, welfare work, welfarism, welfarist, well-being, womb-to-tomb security, world of good

ROGET THESAURUS

Welfare

Prosperity

N prosperity, welfare, well-being, affluence, success, thrift, roaring trade, good fortune, smiles of fortune, blessings, godsend, luck, good luck, run of luck, sunshine, fair weather, fair wind, palmy days, bright days, halcyon days, piping times, tide, flood, high tide, Saturnia regna, Saturnian age, golden time, golden age, bed of roses, fat city, fat of the land, milk and honey, loaves and fishes, made man, lucky dog, enfant gate, spoiled child of fortune, upstart, parvenu, skipjack, mushroom, prosperous, thriving, in a fair way, buoyant, well off, well to do, well to do in the world, set up, at one's ease, rich, in good case, in full, in high feather, fortunate, lucky, in luck, born with a silver spoon in one's mouth, born under a lucky star, on the sunny side of the hedge, auspicious, propitious, providential, palmy, halcyon, agreeable, couleur de rose, prosperously, swimmingly, as good luck would have it, beyond all hope, one's star in the ascendant, all for the best, one's course runs smooth, chacun est l'artisan de sa fortune, donec eris felix multos numerabis amicos, felicitas multos habet amicos, felix se nescit amari, good luck go with thee, nulli est homini perpetuum bonum.