What this suffix does
-intentioned evaluates whether someone's intentions were good or bad: well-intentioned, ill-intentioned.
ESEN
Suffix · forms adjectives
-intentioned
Judges whether someone's intentions were good or bad: well-intentioned versus ill-intentioned (acting with bad motives).
In Spanish: con buenas intenciones / bien intencionado / que actúa conIntermediate
Written by Bryan López, English teacher · Updated
How it is formed
Adverb + intentioned.
- well + intentionedwell-intentioned
- ill + intentionedill-intentioned (acting with bad motives)
- good + intentionedgood-intentioned (less formal variant of well-intentioned)
This is not a productive rule you can apply freely: it is a closed set of fixed expressions. Learn them one by one as set phrases.
How it is pronounced
-intentioned
Tap the button to hear how the ending sounds. Each word in the table has its own audio.
Examples
Base word
With -intentioned
In a phrase
- wellwell-intentionedHer advice was well-intentioned, even if it wasn't helpful.
- goodgood-intentionedHe's good-intentioned, he just doesn't always think things through.
- illill-intentionedThe comment felt ill-intentioned, meant to hurt, not help.
- poorlypoorly-intentionedIt's hard to tell if the policy was poorly-intentioned or just poorly-planned.
- bestbest-intentionedEven the best-intentioned plans can fail without the right resources.
Common mistakes
well-intentioned = praiseworthy; a defence against criticism
well-intentioned = having good motives, but this does not protect against the judgment that outcomes were bad
In practice, "well-intentioned" is most often used in constructions that acknowledge good motives while criticising outcomes: "well-intentioned but misguided," "well-intentioned but ultimately harmful." Having good intentions is the minimum expectation, not a sufficient defence. When someone says "the policy was well-intentioned," they are almost always about to explain why it failed or caused harm.
"well-intentioned" and "good-intentioned" are identical
"well-intentioned" is the standard form; "good-intentioned" is slightly more informal and less common
"Well-intentioned" is the standard, widely accepted compound. "Good-intentioned" is used but is less common and slightly informal. In formal writing, "well-intentioned" is preferred. Both mean roughly the same thing — having intentions that are morally positive — but "well-intentioned" has the richer critical usage, particularly in the "well-intentioned but..." construction.
A trick to remember it
well-intentioned = "having good intentions", from "intention" (the same word in "my intention was..."). The compound is completely literal.
Practise what you learned
Exercise 1 · Form the word
Exercise 2 · Pick the right one
"Even the best-intentioned foreign aid can create dependencies that undermine long-term development." What does "best-intentioned" imply?
Exercise 3 · Form the word
Frequently asked questions
What does the suffix -intentioned mean in English?
The suffix -intentioned judges whether someone's intentions were good or bad: well-intentioned versus ill-intentioned (acting with bad motives). In Spanish it usually maps to con buenas intenciones / bien intencionado / que actúa con.
Can you give an example of a word with -intentioned?
"well" becomes "well-intentioned". It is a typical example of the -intentioned suffix.
Other useful suffixes
-founded
Judges how solid the basis of a claim or fear is: well-founded (justified, based on good evidence) versus ill-founded (baseless).
-minded
Describes someone's way of thinking: open-minded (accepting of new ideas) versus narrow-minded (closed off, intolerant).
-willed
Describes how strong someone's willpower is: strong-willed (determined) versus weak-willed (easily swayed).
Learn every English suffix
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