merit
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: mĕrʹĭt
ipa: /ˈmɛɹɪt/
ipa: /ˈmɛɹət/
ipa: /ˈmɛɹɪt/
ipa: /ˈmɛɹət/
rhymes: -ɛɹɪt
Forms: form: merits
form: meriting
form: merited
form: merited
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: merit
form: merit
form: merited
form: merit
form: meritest
form: merited
form: meritedst
form: merits
form: meriteth
form: merited
form: merit
form: merited
form: merit
form: merited
form: merit
form: -
form: meriting
form: merited
Etymology: The noun is derived from Middle English merit, merite (“quality of person’s character or conduct deserving of reward or punishment; such reward or punishment; excellence, worthiness; benefit; right to be rewarded for spiritual service; retribution at doomsday; virtue through which Jesus Christ brings about salvation; virtue possessed by a holy person; power of a pagan deity”), from Anglo-Norman merit, merite, Old French merite (“moral worth, reward; merit”) (modern French mérite), from Latin meritum (“that which one deserves, deserts; benefit, reward, merit; service; kindness; importance, value, worth; blame, demerit, fault; grounds, reason”), neuter of meritus (“deserved, earned, obtained; due, proper, right; deserving, meritorious”), perfect passive participle of mereō (“to deserve, earn, obtain, merit; to earn a living”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to allot, assign”). The English word is probably cognate with Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “component, part; portion, share; destiny, fate, lot”) and cognate with Old Occitan merit.
The verb is derived from Middle French meriter, Old French meriter (“to deserve, merit”) (modern French mériter), from merite: see further above. The word is cognate with Italian meritare (“to deserve, merit; to be worth; to earn”), Latin meritāre (“to earn regularly; to serve as a soldier”), Spanish meritar (“to deserve, merit; to earn”).
Senses: examples: text: Her performance merited wild applause.
text: Oh! France! charming country! where I had the good fortune to be born! one never quits thee with impunity. Celebrated for the rich beauty of thy soil, for the sociability of thy inhabitants, for all the comforts of civilized life, thou meritest thy reputation, and nothing is so rare.
ref: 1806, “Art. I.—Voyages en Italie, &c. Travels in Italy and Sicily, Made in 1801 and 1802. By M. Creuzé de Lesser, Member of the Legislative Body. 8vo. Paris. 1806. Imported by De Conchy. [book review]”, in The Critical Review: Or, Annals of Literature (Series the Third), volume IX (Appendix), number V, London: Printed for J. Mawman, […]; and sold by J. Deighton, […]; Hanwell and Parker, and J. Cooke, […], →OCLC, page 465:
text: What other could I answer save "I come"? / I said it, somewhat with that colour ting'd / Which oftimes pardon meriteth for man.
ref: 1814, Dante Alighieri, “Canto V”, in H[enry] F[rancis] Cary, transl., The Vision; or, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, of Dante Alighieri. […], volume II (Purgatory), London: […] [J. Barfield] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 19, lines 19–21:
text: 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.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 78:
text: Sudden anger rose in him. “What I’m looking for,” he barked, “is to be left in peace.” His voice trembled with a rage far bigger than her intrusion merited, the rage which shocked him whenever it coursed through his nervous system, like a flood.
ref: 2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 5:
text: Take the principle that requires distribution of help in accord with need. It would certainly support allocating some help to its only potential recipient, provided she is in need. And on the plausible assumption that the more meriting of some good one is the more good one merits, the principle would support allocating more of the help to her the greater her needs.
ref: 2014, Hanoch Sheinman, “Tort Law and Distributive Justice”, in John Oberdiek, editor, Philosophical Foundations of the Law of Torts, Oxford: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, part III (The Aristotelian Distinction), page 361:
synonyms: bear
glosses: To deserve, to earn.
examples: text: They were punished as they merited.
text: [A]nd yet he bode them do yt, and they were bounde to obaye and meryted and deserued by theyr obedyēce.
ref: 1532, Thomas More, The Cōfutacyon of Tyndales An­swere […], prentyd at London: By Wyllyam Rastell, →OCLC, page cclxxiiii:
text: There is none but thee, O ſon of the living God! O faithful friend of our ſouls! that willingly beareſt the croſs for others. All that thou meriteſt by thy croſs, thou meriteſt for us; and thou deſireſt no our recompence for it than our profit.
ref: 1753, Thomas of Jesus, “Suffering of Christ. [Contemplation on Christ Carrying His Cross.]”, in The Sufferings of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Written Originally in Portuguese … Newly and Faithfully Translated into English. In Three Volumes, volume III, London: Printed for J. Marmaduke, →OCLC, paragraph VIII, page 209:
glosses: To be deserving or worthy.
examples: text: Thus charg’d thy sire, which thou forgett’st: yet now those thoughts appease / That torture thy great spirit with wrath; which if thou wilt give surcease, / The king will merit it with gifts ; and if thou wilt give ear / I’ll tell you how much he offers thee:—yet thou sitt’st angry here.
ref: [1611?], Homer, “Book IX”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., The Iliads of Homer Prince of Poets. […], London: […] Nathaniell Butter, →OCLC; republished as The Iliads of Homer, Prince of Poets, […], new edition, volume I, London: Charles Knight and Co., […], 1843, →OCLC, page 203:
glosses: To reward.
Derived terms: word: merited
word: meritedly
word: meriter
word: premerit
word: unmeriting