Adjacent Words

Merit definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MER'IT, n. [L. meritum, from mereo, to earn or deserve.]
1. Desert; goodness or excellence which entitles one to honor or regard; worth; any performance or worth which claims regard or compensation; applied to morals, to excellence in writing, or to valuable services of any kind. Thus we speak of the inability of men to obtain salvation by their own merits. We speak of the merits of an author; the merits of a soldier, etc.
2. Value; excellence; applied to things; as the merits of an essay or poem; the merits of a pointing; the merits of a heroic achievement.
3. Reward deserved; that which is earned or merited.
Those laurel groves, the merits of thy youth.
MER'IT, v.t. [L. merito.] To deserve; to earn by active service, or by any valuable performance; to have a right to claim reward in money, regard, honor or happiness. Watts, by his writings, merited the gratitude of the whole christian world. The faithful laborer merits his wages.
A man at best is incapable of meriting any thing from God.
1. To deserve; to have a just title to. Fidelity merits and usually obtains confidence.
2. To deserve, in an ill sense; to have a just title to. Every violation of law merits punishment. Every sin merits God's displeasure.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: any admirable quality or attribute; "work of great merit" [syn: merit, virtue] [ant: demerit, fault]
2: the quality of being deserving (e.g., deserving assistance); "there were many children whose deservingness he recognized and rewarded" [syn: deservingness, merit, meritoriousness] v
1: be worthy or deserving; "You deserve a promotion after all the hard work you have done" [syn: deserve, merit]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French merite, from Latin meritum, from neuter of meritus, past participle of mer?re to deserve, earn; akin to Greek meiresthai to receive as one's portion, meros part Date: 14th century 1. a. obsolete reward or punishment due b. the qualities or actions that constitute the basis of one's deserts c. a praiseworthy quality ; virtue d. character or conduct deserving reward, honor, or esteem; also achievement 2. spiritual credit held to be earned by performance of righteous acts and to ensure future benefits 3. a. plural the substance of a legal case apart from matters of jurisdiction, procedure, or form b. individual significance or justification • meritless adjective II. verb Date: 1526 transitive verb to be worthy of or entitled or liable to ; earn intransitive verb 1. obsolete to be entitled to reward or honor 2. deserve

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 the quality of deserving well. 2 excellence, worth. 3 (usu. in pl.) a a thing that entitles one to reward or gratitude. b esp. Law intrinsic rights and wrongs (the merits of a case). 4 Theol. good deeds as entitling to a future reward. --v.tr. (merited, meriting) deserve or be worthy of (reward, punishment, consideration, etc.). Phrases and idioms: make a merit of regard or represent (one's own conduct) as praiseworthy. on its merits with regard only to its intrinsic worth. Order of Merit Brit. an order founded in 1902, for distinguished achievement. Etymology: ME f. OF merite f. L meritum price, value, = past part. of mereri earn, deserve

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Merit Mer"it, v. i. To acquire desert; to gain value; to receive benefit; to profit. [Obs.] --Beau. & Fl.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Merit Mer"it, n. [F. m['e]rite, L. meritum, fr. merere, mereri, to deserve, merit; prob. originally, to get a share; akin to Gr. ? part, ? fate, doom, ? to receive as one's portion. Cf. Market, Merchant, Mercer, Mercy.] 1. The quality or state of deserving well or ill; desert. Here may men see how sin hath his merit. --Chaucer. Be it known, that we, the greatest, are misthought For things that others do; and when we fall, We answer other's merits in our name. --Shak. 2. Esp. in a good sense: The quality or state of deserving well; worth; excellence. Reputation is . . . oft got without merit, and lost without deserving. --Shak. To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known, And every author's merit, but his own. --Pope. 3. Reward deserved; any mark or token of excellence or approbation; as, his teacher gave him ten merits. Those laurel groves, the merits of thy youth. --Prior.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Merit Mer"it, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Merited; p. pr. & vb. n. Meriting.] [F. m['e]riter, L. meritare, v. intens. fr. merere. See Merit, n.] 1. To earn by service or performance; to have a right to claim as reward; to deserve; sometimes, to deserve in a bad sense; as, to merit punishment. ``This kindness merits thanks.'' --Shak. 2. To reward. [R. & Obs.] --Chapman.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(merits, meriting, merited) 1. If something has merit, it has good or worthwhile qualities. The argument seemed to have considerable merit... Box-office success mattered more than artistic merit... N-UNCOUNT: usu with supp 2. The merits of something are its advantages or other good points. ...the technical merits of a film... N-PLURAL: usu with poss 3. If someone or something merits a particular action or treatment, they deserve it. (FORMAL) He said he had done nothing wrong to merit a criminal investigation... = deserve VERB: V n 4. If you judge something or someone on merit or on their merits, your judgment is based on what you notice when you consider them, rather than on things that you know about them from other sources. Everybody is selected on merit... Each case is judged on its merits. PHRASE: PHR after v

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Desert, worth, worthiness. 2. Excellence, credit, worth, goodness, worthiness. 3. Reward deserved, that which is earned. 4. [pl.] Claim, right. II. v. a. 1. Deserve, have a right to, be entitled to, earn. 2. Deserve, incur. III. v. n. Profit, gain value, receive benefit, acquire desert.

Moby Thesaurus

accent, advantage, advantageousness, agreeableness, arete, assets, auspiciousness, award, be deserving, be entitled to, be worthy of, beneficialness, benevolence, benignity, caliber, class, cogency, comeuppance, concern, concernment, consequence, consequentiality, consideration, desert, deserts, deserve, deserving, due, due reward, dues, earn, emphasis, entitle, excellence, excellency, expedience, fairness, favorableness, fineness, first-rateness, good, goodliness, goodness, grace, healthiness, helpfulness, high order, high rank, import, importance, interest, just deserts, justify, kindness, mark, materiality, merits, moment, niceness, note, paramountcy, perfection, pleasantness, precedence, preeminence, primacy, priority, profitableness, quality, rate, recompense, repay, requite, reward, rewardingness, rights, self-importance, significance, skillfulness, soundness, stature, stress, strong point, superiority, supremacy, usefulness, validity, value, virtue, virtuousness, warrant, weight, wholeness, winnings, worth, worthiness