merit
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: Buddhism
law
lifestyle
religion
Etymology: 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.
Inflected forms:
form: merits
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: merits
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: meriting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: merited
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: merited
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: merit
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: merit
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: merited
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: merit
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: meritest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: merited
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: meritedst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: merits
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: meriteth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: merited
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: merit
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: merited
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: merit
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: merited
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: merit
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: meriting
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: merited
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
Senses:
gloss: A claim to commendation or a reward.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: [R]eputation is an idle and moſt falſe impoſition , oft got without merit and loſt without deſeruing.
gloss: A mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence.
pos: noun
tags: countable
examples: For her good performance in the examination, her teacher gave her ten merits.
Thoſe laurel groves (the merits of thy youth), / Which thou from Mahomet didſt greatly gain, / While, bold aſſertor of reſiſtleſs truth, / Thy ſword did godlike liberty maintain, / Muſt from thy brow their falling honours ſhed, / And their tranſplanted wreaths muſt deck a worthier head.
gloss: Something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: His reward for his merit was a check for $50.
Such was Roſcommon—not more learn’d than good; / With Manners gen’rous as his Noble Blood; / To him the Wit of Greece and Rome was known, / And ev’ry Author’s Merit but his own.
In all our noble Anglo-Saxon language, there is scarcely a nobler word than worth; yet this term has now almost exclusively a pecuniary meaning. So that if you ask what a man is worth, nobody ever thinks of telling you what he is, but what he has. The answer will never refer to his merits, his virtues, but always to his possessions. He is worth—so much money.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: Jainism
uncountable
examples: to acquire or make merit
It is no small tax upon the people to support their [Buddhist] priests, but they do it with a willing heart. When I was once at the old capital, I saw a woman, from her own stock, feed more than fifty priests, who came to her in his turn, and received his portion. [...] If I had asked her why she thus spent so much of her living, her answer would have been, 'To make merit.'
At funerals, acts of sharing religious merit are central and relatives of the deceased make merit in order to ensure that the departed family member will have a favourable rebirth.
gloss: 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.
pos: noun
tags: uncountable
examples: Even though the plaintiff was ordered by the judge to pay some costs for not having followed the correct procedure, she won the case on the merits.
The Plaintiff muſt ſhew Cauſe either on the Merits, or upon filing Exceptions; if upon the Merits, the Court may put what Terms they pleaſe on him; as bringing in the Money, or paying it to the Parties, ſubject to the Order of the Court, [...]
[I]n most cases once the Court has performed its judicial function – as it had been determined by the parties through their Application or Special Agreement and their submissions – and has rendered its judgment on the merits of the case, a new phrase of functional interaction commences.
gloss: The quality or state of deserving retribution, whether reward or punishment.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
examples: Be it known, that we the greateſt are mis-thoght / For things that others do : and when we fall, / We anſwer others merits, in our name / Are therefore to be pittied.
gloss: To deserve, to earn.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Her performance merited wild applause.
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.
What other could I answer save "I come"? / I said it, somewhat with that colour ting'd / Which oftimes pardon meriteth for man.
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.
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.
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.
gloss: To be deserving or worthy.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: They were punished as they merited.
[A]nd yet he bode them do yt, and they were bounde to obaye and meryted and deserued by theyr obedyēce.
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.
gloss: To reward.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
rare
transitive
examples: 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.
Related words: demerit
meretricious
meretriciously
meretriciousness
promerit
Derived words: badge of merit
merit badge
figure of merit
immerit
immeritorious
immeritoriously
meritable
Meritage
merit badger
merit badging
merit-badging
merit-based
merit field
meritful
merit good
meritious
meritless
meritmonger
meritocracy
meritocrat
meritocratic
meritocratically
meritorious
meritoriously
meritoriousness
meritory
meritous
overmerit
unmeritocratic
unmeritorious
merited
meritedly
meriter
premerit
unmeriting
Translations: