The beneficent donor arrived with a gold pen and a benevolent smile. (beneficent: benevolent, charitable, helpful; benevolent: kind, kindly, charitable) His professed aim was to alleviate hardship. (professed: declared, avowed, stated; alleviate: ease, relieve, lessen) His actual terms would preclude buying food, forbid buying shoes, and prohibit paying any bill that fell due that week. (preclude: prevent, rule out, foreclose) A small appropriation could adorn the waiting room. (appropriation: allocation, allotment, grant; adorn: decorate, embellish, ornament) Not a penny could go to the indigent woman sitting in it. (indigent: poor, impoverished, needy)
The secretary was no stranger to indigence. (indigence: poverty, destitution, penury) Her own childhood in penury had made her wary of aid arranged for the giver's gratification. (penury: destitution, indigence, poverty; gratification: satisfaction, pleasure, fulfillment) She needed to apprise the donor that someone had gone two days without a meal. (apprise: inform, notify, advise) A vase might palliate his embarrassment. (palliate: alleviate, mitigate, relieve) It would provide little sustenance. (sustenance: nourishment, food, nutrition) She asked for unconditional authority to allocate the money as needs arose. (unconditional: unqualified, absolute, unrestricted; allocate: allot, apportion, assign)
He removed the first condition and signed beneath the amendment. Then he noticed that the second and third contradicted it. Removing the rest took all morning. While the ink dried, he and the woman shared his lunch on the steps. In the new agreement he left a margin wide enough for the names of those who would decide what came next.