The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Benevolent \Be*nev"o*lent\, a. [L. benevolens, -entis; bene well
   (adv. of bonus good) + volens, p. pr. of volo I will, I wish.
   See Bounty, and Voluntary.]
   Having a disposition to do good; possessing or manifesting
   love to mankind, and a desire to promote their prosperity and
   happiness; disposed to give to good objects; kind;
   charitable. -- Be*nev"o*lent*ly, adv.
   [1913 Webster]

   Syn: Benevolent, Beneficent.

   Usage: Etymologically considered, benevolent implies wishing
          well to others, and beneficent, doing well. But by
          degrees the word benevolent has been widened to
          include not only feelings, but actions; thus, we speak
          of benevolent operations, benevolent labors for the
          public good, benevolent societies. In like manner,
          beneficent is now often applied to feelings; thus, we
          speak of the beneficent intentions of a donor. This
          extension of the terms enables us to mark nicer shades
          of meaning. Thus, the phrase "benevolent labors" turns
          attention to the source of these labors, viz.,
          benevolent feeling; while beneficent would simply mark
          them as productive of good. So, "beneficent
          intentions" point to the feelings of the donor as bent
          upon some specific good act; while "benevolent
          intentions" would only denote a general wish and
          design to do good.
          [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

benevolent
    adj 1: intending or showing kindness; "a benevolent society"
    2: showing or motivated by sympathy and understanding and
       generosity; "was charitable in his opinions of others";
       "kindly criticism"; "a kindly act"; "sympathetic words"; "a
       large-hearted mentor" [syn: charitable, benevolent,
       kindly, sympathetic, good-hearted, openhearted,
       large-hearted]
    3: generous in providing aid to others [syn: benevolent,
       freehearted]
    4: generous in assistance to the poor; "a benevolent
       contributor"; "eleemosynary relief"; "philanthropic
       contributions" [syn: beneficent, benevolent,
       eleemosynary, philanthropic]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

108 Moby Thesaurus words for "benevolent":
   accommodating, advantageous, affable, agreeable, almsgiving,
   altruistic, amiable, amicable, auspicious, beneficent, beneficial,
   benign, benignant, big, bighearted, bon, bonny, braw, bueno,
   capital, caring, charitable, chivalrous, cogent, commendable,
   compassionate, complaisant, compliant, conciliatory, considerate,
   cooperative, decent, eleemosynary, elegant, estimable, excellent,
   expedient, fair, famous, favorable, fine, forbearing, forgiving,
   freehearted, friendly, generous, good, goodly, gracious, grand,
   greathearted, healthy, helpful, humane, humanitarian, indulgent,
   kind, kindly, kindly-disposed, largehearted, laudable, liberal,
   lofty, long-suffering, longanimous, magnanimous, neighborly, nice,
   noble, obliging, open-handed, openhanded, overindulgent,
   overpermissive, patient, permissive, philanthropic, placable,
   pleasant, profitable, propitious, public-spirited, regal, royal,
   salutary, skillful, sound, sparing, splendid, sympathetic,
   tenderhearted, thoughtful, tolerant, unresentful, unrevengeful,
   useful, valid, very good, virtuous, warm-hearted, welfare,
   welfare statist, welfarist, well-affected, well-disposed,
   well-intentioned, well-meaning, well-meant