[syn: courteous, gracious, nice]
4.  disposed to bestow favors; 
- Example: "thanks to the gracious gods"
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Gracious \Gra"cious\ (gr[=a]"sh[u^]s), a. [F. gracieux, L.
   gratiosus. See Grace.]
   1. Abounding in grace or mercy; manifesting love, or
      bestowing mercy; characterized by grace; beneficent;
      merciful; disposed to show kindness or favor;
      condescending; as, his most gracious majesty.
      [1913 Webster]
            A god ready to pardon, gracious and merciful. --Neh.
                                                  ix. 17.
      [1913 Webster]
            So hallowed and so gracious in the time. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]
   2. Abounding in beauty, loveliness, or amiability; graceful;
      excellent.
      [1913 Webster]
            Since the birth of Cain, the first male child, . . .
            There was not such a gracious creature born. --Shak.
      [1913 Webster]
   3. Produced by divine grace; influenced or controlled by the
      divine influence; as, gracious affections.
   Syn: Favorable; kind; benevolent; friendly; beneficent;
        benignant; merciful.
        [1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
gracious
    adj 1: characterized by charm, good taste, and generosity of
           spirit; "gracious even to unexpected visitors"; "gracious
           living"; "he bears insult with gracious good humor" [ant:
           ungracious]
    2: characterized by kindness and warm courtesy especially of a
       king to his subjects; "our benignant king" [syn: benignant,
       gracious]
    3: exhibiting courtesy and politeness; "a nice gesture" [syn:
       courteous, gracious, nice]
    4: disposed to bestow favors; "thanks to the gracious gods"
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
172 Moby Thesaurus words for "gracious":
   Bohemian, Christian, Christlike, Christly, accommodating, affable,
   affectionate, agreeable, amiable, amicable, approachable,
   attentive, beneficent, benevolent, benign, benignant, bighearted,
   blissful, bonhomous, bounteous, bountiful, brotherly, casual,
   cheerful, chivalrous, civil, civilized, clubby, compassionate,
   compatible, complaisant, compliant, congenial, considerate,
   cordial, courteous, courtly, cultivated, cultured, dainty, decent,
   deferential, degage, delicate, desirable, discriminating,
   easygoing, elegant, en rapport, enjoyable, fair, fair and pleasant,
   familiar, fastidious, felicific, felicitous, fine, folksy,
   forthcoming, fraternal, free, free and easy, freehanded,
   freehearted, friendly, gallant, generous, genial, giving, good,
   good-natured, goodly, graceful, gracile, grateful, gratifying,
   greathearted, handsome, harmonious, haymish, heart-warming, hearty,
   homely, homey, honeyed, hospitable, human, humane, indulgent,
   informal, irregular, kind, kindhearted, kindly, kindly-disposed,
   large, largehearted, lavish, liberal, likable, loose, loving,
   magnanimous, mannered, mellifluous, mellow, munificent, natural,
   neighborly, nice, obliging, offhand, offhanded, oh, open,
   openhanded, openhearted, outgoing, overindulgent, overpermissive,
   permissive, plain, pleasant, pleasing, pleasurable,
   pleasure-giving, pleasureful, polished, polite, princely, profuse,
   receptive, refined, relaxed, respectful, rewarding, satisfying,
   simple, sociable, softhearted, solicitous, sophisticated, starchy,
   stately, stintless, subtle, sweet, sympathetic, sympathizing,
   tactful, tender, tenderhearted, thoughtful, unaffected, unassuming,
   unceremonious, unconstrained, unconventional, ungrudging,
   unofficial, unselfish, unsparing, unstinted, unstinting, unstudied,
   urbane, warm, warm-hearted, warmhearted, welcome, welcoming,
   well-mannered