Merit

/ˈmɛɹɪt/ · noun

Meaning

(countable) A claim to commendation or a reward..

Definitions by Sense

1. (countable) A claim to commendation or a reward.
2. (countable) A mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence.
3. (countable, uncountable) Something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward.
4. (uncountable, Buddhism, Jainism) The sum of all the good deeds that a person does which determines the quality of the person's next state of existence and contributes to the person's growth towards enlightenment.
5. (uncountable, law) Usually in the plural form the merits: the substantive rightness or wrongness of a legal argument, a lawsuit, etc., as opposed to technical matters such as the admissibility of evidence or points of legal procedure; (by extension) the overall good or bad quality, or rightness or wrongness, of some other thing.
6. (countable, obsolete) The quality or state of deserving retribution, whether reward or punishment.
7. (transitive) To deserve, to earn.
8. (intransitive) To be deserving or worthy.

Example Sentences

[R]eputation is an idle and moſt falſe impoſition , oft got without merit and loſt without deſeruing.

For her good performance in the examination, her teacher gave her ten merits.

Thoſe laurel groves (the merits of thy youth), / Which thou from Mahomet didſt greatly gain, / While, bold aſſertor of reſiſtleſs truth, / Thy ſword did godlike liberty maintain, / Muſt from thy brow their falling honours ſhed, / And their tranſplanted wreaths muſt deck a worthier head.

His reward for his merit was a check for $50.

Such was Roſcommon—not more learn’d than good; / With Manners gen’rous as his Noble Blood; / To him the Wit of Greece and Rome was known, / And ev’ry Author’s Merit but his own.

In all our noble Anglo-Saxon language, there is scarcely a nobler word than worth; yet this term has now almost exclusively a pecuniary meaning. So that if you ask what a man is worth, nobody ever thinks of telling you what he is, but what he has. The answer will never refer to his merits, his virtues, but always to his possessions. He is worth—so much money.

to acquire or make merit

It is no small tax upon the people to support their [Buddhist] priests, but they do it with a willing heart. When I was once at the old capital, I saw a woman, from her own stock, feed more than fifty priests, who came to her in his turn, and received his portion. [...] If I had asked her why she thus spent so much of her living, her answer would have been, 'To make merit.'

Synonyms for merit

Antonyms for merit

Related Words

Word Forms

• merits
• meriting
• merited
• no-table-tags
• glossary
• merit
• meritest
• meritedst
• meriteth
• -

Usage Notes

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