boon

Something that is very helpful or makes life better.

• The extra money was a real boon.
• Online shopping has been a boon to many busy parents.
• Would cheaper transport be a boon for local businesses?

How to use it: a boon to someone/something (The new bus route is a boon to local residents.); a boon for someone/something (The rain was a boon for farmers.)

Similar words: benefit, blessing, advantage

Opposites: curse

Common phrases: a great boon, boon to someone, boon for something

A gift or favour that someone asks for or receives.

• The king granted her a boon.
• He asked one final boon before leaving.
• The knight received this boon as a reward for his service.

Similar words: favour, gift, benefaction

Common phrases: grant a boon, ask a boon, boon from someone

A special blessing or power given by a god to someone who lives a strict religious life.

• The goddess granted the ascetic a boon.
• He received a boon after years of meditation.
• The story describes a divine boon that made its recipient impossible to defeat.

Similar words: blessing, divine gift

Opposites: curse

Common phrases: divine boon, grant a boon, boon of immortality

The hard, woody parts removed from flax plants when their useful threads are separated.

• The workers separated the boon from the flax fibres.
• Boon collected beneath the processing machine.
• The report suggests using flax boon as fuel.

Similar words: shives

Common phrases: flax boon, remove the boon, boon waste

Cheerful and friendly, especially when enjoying other people’s company.

• He was my boon companion during those years.
• Her boon companions gathered for a feast.
• The two boon friends spent the evening singing.

Similar words: jolly, merry, jovial, convivial

Opposites: gloomy

Common phrases: boon companion, boon companions, boon friends