MERIT • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Merit

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/mˈɛrət/ Listen

noun

Merit n.

The quality or state of deserving well or ill; desert. "Here may men see how sin hath his merit." "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."

Esp. in a good sense: The quality or state of deserving well; worth; excellence. "Reputation is... oft got without merit, and lost without deserving." "To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known, And every author's merit, but his own."

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."

verb

Merit v. t. (past & past part. merited; pres. part. meriting)

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."

To reward. (R. & Obs.)

Merit v. i. To acquire desert; to gain value; to receive benefit; to profit. (Obs.)

See images of 'Merit'

Etymology of 'Merit'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Merit" Quotes from Famous Books

... always remarkable for rhythm, were at least rich in evangelical sentiment, and pervaded by deep spirituality of thought. Some of these productions are inserted in this volume, in the order in which they occur in her diary, not because they possess any literary merit, but as eminently characteristic of her habits of thought and feeling. In fact they are transcripts of her own heart, and she seems often to have preferred this method of expressing her fervid emotions to the use ...

— Religion in Earnest - A Memorial of Mrs. Mary Lyth, of York • John Lyth

... to your son, I must say that he is a young gentleman of very great merit; and though a marriage into the family of St. Ives is a thing that he certainly has no right to expect, yet I cannot deny that your proposal deserves some consideration; inasmuch as you now come forward like a man, and have ...

— Anna St. Ives • Thomas Holcroft

... contemporaries of other nations, and has merely followed their example in borrowing very largely from the Arabians," and Sprengel writes: "Here and there, though only very rarely, the author offers some remarks of his own, which merit ...

— Gilbertus Anglicus - Medicine of the Thirteenth Century • Henry Ebenezer Handerson

... could pass on Quartermaster Laycock and the detachment I had the honour to command would fall far short of what their merit entitles them to, and I trust their steady perseverance, after a fatiguing march of upwards of 45 miles, to restore order and tranquillity will make their services acceptable. Return of arms taken from the rebels: 26 muskets, 4 bayonets on poles, 8 reaping-hooks, 2 swords, ...

— The Naval Pioneers of Australia • Louis Becke and Walter Jeffery

... doctrines, from the constant exhortations to loyalty which Confucius enjoined. And yet there is in his precepts a democratic influence also, since he recognized no other titles or ranks but such as are won by personal merit,—thus opening every office in the State to the learned, whatever their original social rank. The great political truth that the welfare of the people is the first duty and highest aim of rulers, has endeared the memory ...

— Beacon Lights of History, Volume I • John Lord

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