merit
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Contents
English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English merite, from Old French merite, from Latin meritum (“that which one deserves,service, kindness, benefit, fault, blame, demerit, grounds, reason, worth, value, importance”), neuter of meritus, past participle of mereō (“I deserve, earn, gain, get, acquire”), akin to Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “a part, lot, fate, destiny”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
merit (plural merits)
- Something deserving positive recognition.
- His reward for his merit was a check for $50.
- Something worthy of a high rating.
- A claim to commendation or reward.
- The quality of deserving reward.
- Shakespeare
- Reputation is […] oft got without merit, and lost without deserving.
- Alexander Pope
- To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known, / And every author's merit, but his own.
- Shakespeare
- Reward deserved; any mark or token of excellence or approbation.
- His teacher gave him ten merits.
- Prior
- those laurel groves, the merits of thy youth
- (obsolete) The quality or state of deserving either good or bad; desert.
- Shakespeare
- Be it known, that we, the greatest, are misthought / For things that others do; and when we fall, / We answer others' merits in our name.
- Shakespeare
Synonyms[edit]
Antonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
Something deserving recognition
Something worthy of a high rating
Verb[edit]
merit (third-person singular simple present merits, present participle meriting, simple past and past participle merited)
- (transitive) To earn or to deserve.
- Her performance merited its wild applause.
-
1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 5, The Celebrity:
- Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited.
- (intransitive) To be worthy or deserving.
- (obsolete, rare) To reward.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Chapman to this entry?)
Derived terms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
External links[edit]
- merit in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- merit in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
- merit at OneLook Dictionary Search
Anagrams[edit]
Ladin[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Noun[edit]
merit m (plural meric)
Categories:
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English terms with audio links
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with rare senses
- Requests for quotation/Chapman
- Ladin terms derived from Latin
- Ladin lemmas
- Ladin nouns
