pro bono

UK/prəʊ ˈbəʊnəʊ/US/proʊ ˈboʊnoʊ/

prepositional phrase

Without charging the usual fee; done voluntarily without fee, generally for clients or patients of limited means.

“After he retired, he offered representation pro bono from time to time.”

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Meanings

prepositional phrase
  1. lawWithout charging the usual fee; done voluntarily without fee, generally for clients or patients of limited means.

    After he retired, he offered representation pro bono from time to time.

    3 more examples

    The firm currently has about half a dozen pro bono cases at any one time.

    Esther Lardent, chief consultant to the ABA's Post Conviction Death Penalty Representation Project, which has helped recruit pro bono lawyers for death row appeals since 1987, begs to differ. Finding a lawyer to represent a death row inmate has never been easy, Lardent says. And finding one now, she says, will be harder than ever.

    1996 June, Mark Hansen, “Death’s Door”, in Gary A. Hengstler, editor, ABA Journal: The Lawyer’s Magazine, volume 82, Chicago, Ill.: American Bar Association, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 64, column 1

    While the media sneerocracy only came round to Oliver because of his pro bono project, the huge number of people buying his books and wheeling their Sainsbury's trolleys in his wake had already responded to his charisma.

    2002 December 5, Mark Lawson, “The fall and rise of Jamie”, in The Guardian

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivedone for the public good without compensation

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Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Latinprō bonō publicō“for the public good”
  2. Englishpro bono

Abbreviated from Latin prō bonō publicō (“for the public good”).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Dutch pro deo
  • pro deowithout fee
French bénévolement
  • bénévolementwithout fee
Hungarian ingyen, ingyenes
  • ingyenwithout fee
  • ingyeneswithout fee
  • jószolgálatiwithout fee
  • pro bonowithout fee
Italian pro bonu
  • pro bonuwithout fee
Persian عامالمنفعه
  • عامالمنفعه ('âm-ol-manfa'e)without fee
Spanish pro bono, turno de oficio
  • pro bonowithout fee
  • turno de oficiowithout fee
  • pro bono públicowithout fee
Cite this entry
APA

pro bono. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pro%20bono

MLA

“pro bono.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pro%20bono. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “pro bono,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/pro%20bono.

Source: pro bono on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.