goodwill

6 definitions • 7 examples

friendly and helpful feelings:

The school has to rely on the goodwill of the parents to help it raise money.

gesture of goodwill/goodwill gesture Releasing the hostages has been seen as a gesture of goodwill/a goodwill gesture.

part of a company's value that includes things that cannot be directly measured, for example, its good reputation or its customers' loyalty:

The company's assets are worth £200 million, plus goodwill.

abbreviation for Goodwill Industries: a US-based organization that collects old clothes and other unwanted things and sells them at low prices in special shops. The money is used to provide jobs, training, and services for people who are poor and cannot find work:

My aunt gave me some towels, and I gave them to the Goodwill.

a friendly attitude in which you wish that good things happen to people:

We hope the negotiations will take place in an atmosphere of openness and goodwill.

the value to a company or organization of things that cannot be directly measured, for example, its good reputation or its customers' loyalty:

Charitable endeavours are important to us in terms of goodwill.

the difference between the value of a company's assets and what profit it is expected to make in the future, which is included in the price paid when it is bought or sold:

We expect the business to raise at least $100,000 in goodwill.