MERIT

deservingness, merit, meritoriousness

(noun) the quality of being deserving (e.g., deserving assistance); “there were many children whose deservingness he recognized and rewarded”

merit, virtue

(noun) any admirable quality or attribute; “work of great merit”

deserve, merit

(verb) be worthy or deserving; “You deserve a promotion after all the hard work you have done”

Source: WordNet® 3.1

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Etymology

Noun

merit (countable and uncountable, plural merits)

(countable) A claim to commendation or a reward.

(countable) A mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence.

Antonym: demerit

(countable, uncountable) Something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward.

Synonyms: excellence, value, worth

Antonym: demerit

(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.

(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.

(countable, obsolete) The quality or state of deserving retribution, whether reward or punishment.

Verb

merit (third-person singular simple present merits, present participle meriting, simple past and past participle merited)

(transitive) To deserve, to earn.

(intransitive) To be deserving or worthy.

(transitive, obsolete, rare) To reward.

Anagrams

• Terim, ermit, miter, mitre, remit, timer

Source: Wiktionary

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Mer"it, n. Etym: [F. mérite, L. meritum, fr. merere, mereri, to deserve, merit; prob. originally, to get a share; akin to Gr. 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.

Mer"it, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Merited; p. pr. & vb. n. Meriting.] Etym: [F. mériter, 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.

Mer"it, v. i.

Definition: To acquire desert; to gain value; to receive benefit; to profit. [Obs.] Beau. & Fl.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition

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