These words refer either to a considerate, tolerant person who readily gives of himself or his money, or to large helpings or sizeable offerings. Generous , the most general, suggests kind concern and willingness to help others in tangible ways: a teacher generous with the time he devotes to after-class conferences; the generous habit of sharing his money with less fortunate friends. It can also suggest tolerance rather than narrow fault-finding: generous in his estimates of the plays he reviews. When used of a helping of food or an offer of any kind, it suggests an amount more than the receiver might have expected: a generous slice of beef; a generous offer to take a lower down-payment than usual. The word is sometimes used ironically to suggest its opposite: generous with his criticisms, frugal with his praise.

More formal than generous , magnanimous is more likely to refer to well-intentioned kindness than to monetary generosity. In this sense, it may suggest courteous consideration given equally to everyone as a matter of principle, whereas generous is more likely to suggest a spontaneous impulse to help a particular person not so much out of principle as out of fondness: so magnanimous that he tended to forget that not everyone in the club shared his own unselfish motives for belonging. Magnanimous , in fact, can sometimes suggest an unconscious condescension or paternalism towards inferiors: giving magnanimous approval to her hopeless efforts at balancing their cheque account. Magnanimous would not be used to describe a generous serving, but, when used of an offer, it suggests restrained formality, possibly involving better terms than the receiver deserves: a magnanimous offer to buy the painting in spite of its imperfections.

Bountiful is still more formal than magnanimous and in the sense of generous is now mostly reserved for references to the Deity: Bountiful Lord. It occurs in a satiric phrase referring the charity that is condescending, self-righteous and smug: playing the lady bountiful . In more common uses, it suggests productivity, and is often used for rhetorical effect: a bountiful harvest; the bountiful land.

Liberal and lavish most often refer to large servings or offers or to sizeable expenditure of money: a sundae with a liberal sprinkling of nuts; a liberal trade-in offer on your old car; a liberal spender. Lavish goes beyond liberal in suggesting an excessive or unduly large amount or degree. In some senses it can excessive generosity adopted pretentiously for show: lavish displays of affection. In the stricter sense of generous , liberal can be used of a person, but here it suggests a permissive, easygoing nature: a doctor who was liberal about breaking rules when it might buck up a patient’s moral. Sometimes the word can even suggest carelessness or moral flabbiness: a liberal disregard for fine ethical distinctions.