at the mercy of

preposition

In the power of; defenceless/defenseless against.

“The ball game is scheduled for Saturday, but we're still at the mercy of the weather.”

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Meanings

preposition
  1. idiomaticIn the power of; defenceless/defenseless against.

    The ball game is scheduled for Saturday, but we're still at the mercy of the weather.

    2 more examples

    The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.

    1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC

    Most of Britain's railways were built in the Victorian era. Railway routes were not only at the mercy of geography, but also of local landowners who wanted to minimise the impact on their estates. Construction was carried out by navvies armed with picks and shovels, with very little understanding of the underlying geology.

    2024 March 20, Richard Foster, “Vital experience in an open-air classroom”, in RAIL, number 1005, page 60

Translations

Arabic تَحْتَ رَحْمَةِ
  • تَحْتَ رَحْمَةِ (taḥta raḥmati)defenseless against
Catalan a la mercè de, a mercè de
  • a la mercè dedefenseless against
  • a mercè dedefenseless against
Finnish armoilla
  • armoilladefenseless against
French à la merci de
  • à la merci dedefenseless against
German den Launen ausgeliefert
  • den Launen ausgeliefertdefenseless against
Italian alla mercé di, in balia di
  • alla mercé didefenseless against
  • in balia didefenseless against
Polish na łasce
  • na łascedefenseless against
Portuguese à mercê de
  • à mercê dedefenseless against
Spanish a merced de, a la merced de
  • a merced dedefenseless against
  • a la merced dedefenseless against
Cite this entry
APA

at the mercy of. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/at%20the%20mercy%20of

MLA

“at the mercy of.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/at%20the%20mercy%20of. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “at the mercy of,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/at%20the%20mercy%20of.

Source: at the mercy of on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.