Adjacent Words

Clemency definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

CLEMENCY, n.
1. Mildness; softness; as the clemency of the air.
2. Mildness of temper; gentleness or lenity of disposition; disposition to treat with favor and kindness.
I pray thee that thou wouldest hear us of thy clemency a few words. Acts 24.
3. Mercy; disposition to treat with lenity, to forgive or to spare, as offenders; tenderness in punishing; opposed to severity, harshness, or rigor.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: good weather with comfortable temperatures [syn: mildness, clemency]
2: leniency and compassion shown toward offenders by a person or agency charged with administering justice; "he threw himself on the mercy of the court" [syn: clemency, mercifulness, mercy]

Merriam Webster's

noun (plural -cies) Date: 15th century 1. a. disposition to be merciful and especially to moderate the severity of punishment due b. an act or instance of leniency 2. pleasant mildness of weather Synonyms: see mercy

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Clemency Clem"en*cy, n.; pl. Clemencies. [L. clementia, fr. clemens mild, calm.] 1. Disposition to forgive and spare, as offenders; mildness of temper; gentleness; tenderness; mercy. Great clemency and tender zeal toward their subjects. --Stowe. They had applied for the royal clemency. --Macaulay. 2. Mildness or softness of the elements; as, the clemency of the season. Syn: Mildness; tenderness; indulgence; lenity; mercy; gentleness; compassion; kindness.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If someone is granted clemency, they are punished less severely than they could be. (FORMAL) Seventeen prisoners held on death row are to be executed after their pleas for clemency were turned down.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

klem'-en-si (epietkeia, "fairness," "sweet reasonableness," Ac 24:4): The Greek word is rendered elsewhere "gentleness," 2Co 10:1; Tit 3:2, "meekhess"; Jas 3:17; 1Pe 2:18.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Lenity, lenience, leniency, mildness, mercifulness, mercy, gentleness, forgivingness, compassion, tenderness, kindness, fellow-feeling, long-suffering, freedom from vindictiveness, disposition to mercy. 2. Softness, mildness. (Said of weather, etc.).

Moby Thesaurus

acceptance, benevolence, caritas, charity, clementness, commiseration, compassion, condolence, easiness, easygoingness, endurance, equitableness, fairness, favor, feeling, forbearance, forbearing, forgiveness, gentleness, grace, humaneness, humanity, indulgence, just, kindness, laxness, lenience, leniency, lenientness, lenity, mercifulness, mercy, mildness, mitigation, moderateness, pardon, pathos, patience, pity, quarter, relief, reprieve, ruth, self-pity, softness, sufferance, sympathy, tenderness, tolerance, toleration