goodness

«goodness» in Mova's school dictionary: the quality of being good, kind and honest — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (goodness; uncountable); interjection («Goodness!», «My goodness!»)

meaning for a pupil

1) Goodness is the quality of being good, kind and honest. tree →

2) Goodness is the healthy part of food that does you good. tree →

3) «Goodness!» or «My goodness!» is said to show surprise. tree →

sense in the lessons

In stories and values lessons, goodness is kindness and honesty shown in actions. In everyday life, older people often say «My goodness!» or «Goodness me!». Phrases: «thank goodness», «for goodness' sake», «goodness knows», «out of the goodness of your heart».

examples

• My goodness, look how tall you've grown! tree →
• Thank goodness you're safe! tree →
• She helped out of the goodness of her heart. tree →
• Vegetables are full of goodness. tree →
• For goodness' sake, close the door! tree →
• Goodness knows where I put my keys. tree →
• The story is about goodness winning over evil. tree →
• Her patience and goodness were rewarded at last. tree →

note

Uncountable. «Thank goodness» shows relief. «Goodness knows» means nobody knows. Spelling: double «s» at the end («-ness»). Not a number word.

In the corpora

• Bread fills ducks with little goodness and rotting leftovers dirty the pond; oats, peas, sweetcorn or duck food are better.
• Bamboo has little goodness, so pandas must eat a lot and rest to save energy.
• It is a clever trick that gets twice as much goodness out of tough grass.
• The sergeant speaks in old-fashioned words: «Oddsbodikins! … Rouse thee, old loon» (= Goodness!
• "Goodness knows" means God knows, that is, nobody knows.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «goodness» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.