good
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ɡʊd/
enpr: go͝od
ipa: /ɡʊd/
ipa: [ɡʊ̈d]
ipa: [ɡɪ̈d]
ipa: /ɡʊd/
ipa: [ɡʊd]
ipa: [ɡud]
ipa: /ɡʉd/
note: d
enpr: go͝o
ipa: /ɡʊ(d)/
note: African-American Vernacular
rhymes: -ʊd
Forms: form: better
form: gooder
form: best
form: goodest
form: goode
form: gud
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English good, from Old English gōd, from Proto-West Germanic *gōd, from Proto-Germanic *gōdaz (“good”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰedʰ- (“to unite, be associated, suit, fit”).
Related to gather and together, but not to god/God.
Eclipsed non-native Middle English bon, bone, boon, boun (“good”) borrowed from Old French bon (“good”), from Latin bonus (“good”).
Cognates
Cognate with Scots gude, guid (“good”), Yola gayde, gooude, gude (“good”), North Frisian gud, gur, gödj (“good”), Saterland Frisian goud (“good”), West Frisian goed (“good”), Alemannic German guet (“good”), Bavarian guad (“good”), Central Franconian gut, jot, jott (“good”), Cimbrian guat, guut (“good”), Dutch goed, goei (“good”), Dutch Low Saxon good (“good”), German gut (“good”), Limburgish good, gott (“good”), Low German god, goot (“good”), Luxembourgish gutt (“good”), Mòcheno guat (“good”), Vilamovian güt (“good”), Yiddish גוט (gut, “good”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish god (“good”), Elfdalian guoð (“good”), Faroese, Icelandic góður (“good”), Gothic 𐌲𐍉𐌸𐍃 (gōþs, “good”), Vandalic *guths (“good”), Russian го́дный (gódnyj, “fit, well-suited, good for; (coll.) good”), Lithuanian guõdas (“virtue, honor”).
Senses: examples: text: good intentions
text: c. 1525, The Example of Euyll Tongues, page a3 rectoː
Yf ony man wolde begynne his synnes to reny / Or ony good people that fro vyce dyde refrayne / What so euer he were that to vertue wolde applye / But an yll tonge wyll all ouer throwe agayne
If any man would begin to renounce his sins, / Or any good people who refrained from vice, / Whatsoever he who wished to apply himself to virtue might be, / Still an ill tongue would overthrow it all again.
text: When we are happy, we are always good, but when we are good, we are not always happy.
ref: 1891, Oscar Wilde, chapter 6, in The Picture of Dorian Gray, London; New York, N.Y.; Melbourne, Vic.: Ward Lock & Co., →OCLC:
glosses: Acting in the interest of what is beneficial, ethical, or moral.
raw_tags: of people or animals
examples: text: a good swimmer
text: Flatter him it may, I confess, (as those are generally good at flattering who are good for nothing else,) but in the meantime the poor man is left under the fatal necessity of a needless delusion
ref: 1704, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached on Several Occasions, On the nature and measure of conscience:
text: Ivor had acquired more than a mile of fishing rights with the house ; he was not at all a good fisherman, but one must do something ; one generally, however, banged a ball with a squash-racket against a wall.
ref: 1922, Michael Arlen, “3/19/2”, in “Piracy”: A Romantic Chronicle of These Days:
text: And Marsha says I am a good cook!
ref: 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
glosses: Competent or talented.
raw_tags: of people or animals
examples: text: Can you lend me fifty dollars? You know I'm good for it.
glosses: Able to be depended on for the discharge of obligations incurred; of unimpaired credit; used with for.
raw_tags: of people or animals
examples: text: Be good while your mother and I are out.
text: Were you a good boy for the babysitter?
glosses: Well-behaved (especially of children or animals).
raw_tags: of people or animals
examples: text: Would you like a glass of water? — I'm good.
text: [Are] you good? — Yeah, I'm fine.
text: Gimme another beer! — I think you're good.
glosses: Satisfied or at ease; not requiring more.
raw_tags: of people or animals
examples: text: My mother said she's good with me being alone with my date as long as she's met them first.
text: The soup is rather spicy. Are you good with that, or would you like something else?
glosses: Accepting of, OK with
raw_tags: with with
of people or animals
examples: text: Thou art a Traitor, and a Miſcreant;
Too good to be ſo, and too bad to liue,
Since the more faire and chriſtall is the skie,
The vglier ſeeme the cloudes that in it flye:
ref: 1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 23, columns 1–2:
glosses: Of high rank or birth.
raw_tags: of people or animals
examples: text: it’s a good watch;  the flashlight batteries are still good
text: 1526, Herballː
Against cough and scarceness of breath caused of cold take the drink that it hath been sodden in with Liquorice[,] or that the powder hath been sodden in with dry figs[,] for the same the electuary called dyacalamentum is good[,] and it is made thus.
text: Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation,[…]. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe.
ref: 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
glosses: Useful for a particular purpose; functional.
raw_tags: of capabilities
examples: text: a good worker
text: There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.
ref: 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, →OCLC; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], →OCLC, page 0091:
glosses: Effective.
raw_tags: of capabilities
examples: text: in good sooth
text: Love no man in good earnest.
ref: c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
glosses: Real; actual; serious.
raw_tags: of capabilities
examples: text: The food was very good.
qualifier: properties and qualities
glosses: Having a particularly pleasant taste.
raw_tags: of food
examples: text: Eat a good dinner so you will be ready for the big game tomorrow.
qualifier: properties and qualities
glosses: Being satisfying; meeting dietary requirements.
raw_tags: of food
examples: text: The bread is still good.
qualifier: properties and qualities
glosses: Of food or other perishable products, still fit for use; not yet expired, stale, rotten, etc.
examples: text: This coupon is good for a free doughnut.
qualifier: properties and qualities
glosses: Valid, of worth, capable of being honoured.
examples: text: This theory still holds good even if much higher temperatures are assumed.
text: Twinnia biclavata differs from T. nova by inversion IS-1 and a nucleolar shift. Both are good species.
ref: 1966, K. Rothfels, Margaret Freeman, “The salivary gland chromosomes of three North American species of Twinnia (Diptera: Simuliidae)”, in Canadian Journal of Zoology, volume 44, number 5, →DOI:
qualifier: properties and qualities
glosses: True, valid, of explanatory strength.
examples: text: It is not good to be alone, / to walk here in this worthely wone, / In all this welthly wyn;
ref: 15th c., “[The Creation]”, in Wakefield Mystery Plays; Re-edited in George England, Alfred W. Pollard, editors, The Towneley Plays (Early English Text Society Extra Series; LXXI), London: […] Oxford University Press, 1897, →OCLC, page 6, lines 184–185:
english: It is not good to be alone / to walk here in this noble dwelling-place / in all this rich delight.
translation: It is not good to be alone / to walk here in this noble dwelling-place / in all this rich delight.
bold_translation_offsets: 10
14
text: If all was good and fair we met,
⁠This earth had been the Paradise
⁠It never look’d to human eyes
Since Adam left his garden yet.
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XXIV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 41:
qualifier: properties and qualities
glosses: Right, proper, as it should be.
examples: text: Exercise and a varied diet are good for you.
qualifier: properties and qualities
glosses: Healthful.
examples: text: We had a good time.
qualifier: properties and qualities
glosses: Pleasant; enjoyable.
examples: text: a good omen;  good weather
text: Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part.[…]Next day she[…]tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and perhaps had spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XLIV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC, page 361:
qualifier: properties and qualities
glosses: Favorable.
examples: text: a person's good name
qualifier: properties and qualities
glosses: Unblemished; honourable.
examples: text: a good job
qualifier: properties and qualities
glosses: Beneficial; worthwhile.
examples: text: [I]f thou ask me why, / Sufficeth my reaſons are both good and waighty.
ref: c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 212, column 2:
qualifier: properties and qualities
glosses: Adequate; sufficient; not fallacious.
examples: text: The soup is good and hot.
qualifier: when with and
glosses: Very, extremely. See good and.
examples: text: I'm good when you are.
text: The reports are good to go.
glosses: Ready.
examples: text: Good Friday, Good Wednesday, the Good Book
glosses: Holy (especially when capitalized) .
examples: text: all in good time
glosses: Reasonable in amount.
raw_tags: of quantities
examples: text: a good while longer
text: a good number of seeds
text: A good part of his day was spent shopping.
text: It will be a good while longer until he's done.
text: He's had a good amount of troubles, he has.
text: The big houses, and there are a good many of them, lie for the most part in what may be called by courtesy the valleys. You catch a glimpse of them sometimes at a little distance from the [railway] line, which seems to have shown some ingenuity in avoiding them,[…].
ref: 1909, Archibald Marshall [pseudonym; Arthur Hammond Marshall], chapter III, in The Squire’s Daughter, New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead and Company, published 1919, →OCLC:
glosses: Large in amount or size.
raw_tags: of quantities
examples: text: This hill will take a good hour and a half to climb.
text: The car was a good ten miles away.
text: Athelstan Arundel walked home all the way, foaming and raging. No omnibus, cab, or conveyance ever built could contain a young man in such a rage. His mother lived at Pembridge Square, which is four good measured miles from Lincoln's Inn.
ref: 1892, Walter Besant, “Prologue: Who is Edmund Gray?”, in The Ivory Gate […], New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC, page 16:
glosses: Full; entire; at least as much as.
raw_tags: of quantities
examples: text: No, not that one. That's my good shirt I only wear for special occasions.
text: Shoot! A tear. And these are my good jeans.
qualifier: stressed form
glosses: Special, best, favorite.
Synonyms: sense: having positive attributes
word: not bad
word: all right
word: satisfactory
word: decent
sense: healthful
word: well
sense: competent or talented
word: accomplished
sense: acting in the interest of good; ethical
word: goodness
word: acceptable
word: agreeable
word: as fine as Dick's hatband
word: awesome
word: bene
word: bodacious
word: bona
word: commendable
word: dandy as candy
word: enjoyable
word: excellent
word: exceptional
word: fantastic
word: fine
word: goloptious
word: good as wheat in the bin
word: gratifying
word: great
word: magnificent
word: marvelous
word: nice
word: outstanding
word: perfect
word: phenomenal
word: pleasant
word: pleasing
word: positive
word: rad
word: radical
word: right as rain
word: satisfying
word: splendid
word: stellar
word: stupendous
word: super
word: superb
word: sweet as a nut
word: terrific
word: tubular
word: wonderful
word: wondrous
Hyponyms: word: satisfactory
Derived terms: a bad tree does not yield good apples
a change is as good as a rest
agood
a good beginning makes a good ending
a good conscience is a soft pillow
a good deal
a good deed is its own reward
a good few
a good look
a good many
all good
all-good
all good in the hood
all good things come to an end
all good things must come to an end
all in good time
all publicity is good publicity
a miss is as good as a mile
a nod is as good as a wink
a nod is as good as a wink to a blind horse
a nod's as good as a wink to a blind bat
anti-good
any exposure is good exposure
any good
any press is good press
as good as
as good as it gets
as good as new
badbye
bad money drives out good
baked good
be good for
better is the enemy of good
capital good
certificate of good conduct
chaotic good
club good
come from a good place
come good
common good
complementary good
consumer good
deal a good hand
deficit good
demerit good
digital good
do a power of good
do good
dogoodery
do more harm than good
do someone's heart good
do the power of good
double-plus-good
do well by doing good
durable good
enough is as good as a feast
every good boy deserves favor
every good boy deserves favour
every good boy deserves food
every good boy deserves fudge
every good boy deserves fun
every good boy does fine
fake good
fat lot of good
feel-good
feelgoodery
feel-good factor
fight the good fight
finger-lickin' good
finished good
fire is a good servant but a bad master
for good
for good and all
for good measure
for good or ill
for no good reason
for one's own good
for the love of all that is good
good hands
get out while the getting's good
Giffen good
give a good account of oneself
give a good damn
give a good goddamn
give as good as one gets
go at a good clip
godwit
go gentle into that good night
Good
good afternoon
good and
good and proper
good article
good as gold
good as new
good as one's word
good-ass
good as wheat in the bin
good-bad
good bet
good bishop
good black don't crack
Goodbody
good boi
good book
good books
good boy
good boys deserve fudge always
good breath
good-brother
good-by
goodbye
good bye
good-bye
good-byer
good cause
good cess
good cholesterol
good class bungalow
good coin
good cookie
good-cop/bad-cop
good cop/bad cop
good cop bad cop
good-cop bad-cop
good cop-bad cop
good-cop-bad-cop
good cop–bad cop
good-day
good day
good deal
good delivery
good-den
good doctor
good drunk
good egg
gooden
good ending
good enough
good enough for government work
good enough for jazz
good enough to eat
good eve
good-evening
good evening
good faith
goodfella
good-fellowship
good fences make good neighbors
good fences make good neighbours
goodfic
good folk
good for a laugh
good form
good-for-naught
good for nothing
good-for-nothing
good-for-nothingness
good for someone
good fortune
Good Friday
goodful
good game
good girl
good God
good Goddess
good going
good golly
good-good
good good
good graces
good gracious
good gravy
good grief
good guy
good head on one's shoulders
good-hearted
goodhearted
good-heartedly
good-heartedness
good heavens
good heav'ns
good house
good humor
good-humor
good-humored
good-humoredly
good-humoredness
good humour
good-humour
good-humoured
good-humouredly
good-humouredness
goodie
goodification
goodify
goodish
good job
good-king-henry
good lack
Goodlad
good language
good laugh
good law
good leg
good length
goodless
good lick
good life
good liking
good looker
good-looking
good looking
good-lookingness
good looks
good Lord
good loser
good luck
good-luck bone
goodly
good man
goodman
good manners
good-minded
good-mindedness
good money
good morn
good morning
good morrow
good name
good nature
good-natured
good-naturedly
good-naturedness
good-neighborliness
good-neighbourliness
good-neighbourly
goodness
good news
good night
good-night
goodnight
good night's sleep
good noon
good now
good-o
goodo
good offices
good oil
good ol'
good ol' boy
good old
good old boy
good old boy network
good old days
good old times
good ole
good ole boy
good one
good on someone
good people
good PM
good press
goodput
Good Queen Bess
good question
good riddance
good riddance to bad rubbish
good riddings
good run
Good Samaritan
good sense
goodset
goodship
good shit
good show
goodsire
good-sized
goodsome
good sort
good speed
good spirits
good sport
good standing
goodt
good-tempered
good-temperedness
good thing
good things come in small packages
good things come in threes
good things come to those who wait
goodthink
good thinking
good tidings
good-time
good time
good-time Charley
good time Charley
good-time Charlie
good time Charlie
good time coming
good time girl
good-time girl
good-timer
good times
good to go
good trouble
good try
good turn
good value
good voice to beg bacon
good weather
goodwife
goodwill
good will
good-will
goodwill ambassador
good willer
good wine needs no bush
good word
good work
good works
goody
grave good
grave-good
greater good
haggaday
have a good mind to
have a good one
have a good time
have a good time of it
have a good weekend
have something on good authority
hellagood
hold good
hunger is a good sauce
I'm good
impulse good
inferior good
in good bread
in good conscience
in good hands
in good odor
in good odour
in good part
in good repair
in good season
in good sorts
in good spirits
in good stead
in good time
in good voice
in one's own good time
it's all good
it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good
it's an ill wind that blows no good
it's an ill wind that blows no one any good
Joan's as good as my lady in the dark
job's a good 'un
jolly good show
keep good hours
keep good time
last known good
letter of good conduct
let the door hit you where the good Lord split you
let the good times roll
let the perfect be the enemy of the good
luxury good
make a good fist of
make good
makegood
make good on
make good one's running
make good time
make the perfect the enemy of the good
merit good
much good may it do someone
nobody ever went broke underestimating the good taste of the American people
nobody ever went broke underestimating the good taste of the American public
no good
no-good
no-good ass
no good ass
no good deed ever goes unpunished
no good deed goes unpunished
no news is good news
nongood
normal good
on a good wicket
one good turn deserves another
on good terms
only the good die young
on someone's good side
overgood
pass a good time
pay good money after bad
perfection is the enemy of good
perfect is the enemy of good
perfect is the enemy of good enough
pitch good money after bad
positional good
private good
producer good
producer's good
public good
pure good
put in a good word
put to good use
quite good
romping good
'sall good
scattergood
scrape-good
show someone a good time
smallgood
Small Party of Good Boys
so far so good
something good
spend good money after bad
stand in good stead
streak of good luck
stroygood
stroy-good
stry-good
substitute good
supergood
superior good
talk a good game
that's a good one
the best defense is a good offense
the best is the enemy of the good
the better is the enemy of the good
the fox may grow grey but never good
the good die young
the good doctor
the great and the good
the job's a good 'un
the perfect is the enemy of the good
there's a good time coming
there's many a good tune played on an old fiddle
the road to hell is paved with good intentions
think good
throw good money after bad
today is a good day to die
Toogood
too good for this world
too good to be true
too good to last
too much of a good thing
to the good
turn to good account
twelve good men and true
uber-good
ultragood
ungodly
ungood
up to no good
Veblen good
very good
walk good
waste good
wastegood
waste-good
well and good
what good is
what's good
what's good for the goose is good for the gander
what's the good of
who's a good boy
who's a good girl
will the good of another
with good grace
with good reason
you can't keep a good man down
you have to be good to be lucky
you're good
you're only as good as your last shift
your good name
your good self
your guess is as good as mine
your money is no good here
Related terms: word: goodness
word: intermediate
word: moderate