/ˈmɛɹɪt/, /ˈmɛɹət/, /ˈmɛɹɪt/
OriginFrom 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.
- countableA claim to commendation or a reward.
“[R]eputation is an idle and moſt falſe impoſition , oft got without merit and loſt without deſeruing.”
- countableA mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence.
“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 ”
- countable, uncountableSomething deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward.
“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 thi”
- Jainism, uncountableThe 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.
“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”
“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.”
- uncountableUsually in the plural form the merits: the substantive rightness or wrongness of a legal argument, a lawsuit, etc.
“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 Partie”
“[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 it”
- countable, obsoleteThe quality or state of deserving retribution, whether reward or punishment.
“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.”
- transitiveTo deserve, to earn.
“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 t”
“What other could I answer save "I come"? / I said it, somewhat with that colour ting'd / Which oftimes pardon meriteth for man.”
- intransitiveTo be deserving or worthy.
“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 deſire”
- obsolete, rare, transitiveTo reward.
“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 ”
Formsmerits(plural) · merits(present, singular, third-person) · meriting(participle, present) · merited(participle, past) · merited(past) · merit(infinitive) · merit(first-person, present, singular) · merited(first-person, past, singular) · merit(present, second-person, singular) · meritest(archaic, present, second-person, singular) · merited(past, second-person, singular) · meritedst(archaic, past, second-person, singular) · meriteth(archaic, present, singular, third-person) · merited(past, singular, third-person) · merit(plural, present) · merited(past, plural) · merit(present, subjunctive) · merited(past, subjunctive) · merit(imperative, present) · -(imperative, past)
Source: Wiktionary