merit

plural merits

1. countableA claim to commendation or a reward.

   [R]eputation is an idle and moſt falſe impoſition , oft got without merit and loſt without deſeruing.

   c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 36

2. countableA mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence.

   For her good performance in the examination, her teacher gave her ten merits.

   1 more example

   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.

   a. 1722 (date written), Matthew Prior, “An Ode Humbly Inscrib’d to the Queen”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior […], volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan, […], published 1779, →OCLC, stanza IX, page 275

   Antonyms: demerit

3. countableuncountableSomething deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward.

   His reward for his merit was a check for $50.

   2 more examples

   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.

   1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC, page 42

   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.

   1877, Richard Fuller, “Sermon Thirteenth. The Gospel Stifled by Covetousness.”, in Sermons by Richard Fuller, […] (Second Series), Baltimore, Md.: Published by John F[rederick] Weishampel, Jr.; Philadelphia, Pa.: American Baptist Publication Society; New York, N.Y.: Sheldon and Company, →OCLC, page 244

   Synonyms: excellence, value, worth · Antonyms: demerit

4. JainismuncountableBuddhismThe 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

   2 more examples

   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.'

   1855 October, “Siamese Merit-making”, in The Church Missionary Gleaner, volume V (New Series), London: Seeley, Jackson and Halliday […], →OCLC, page 118

   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.

   2015, Monica Lindberg Falk, “Communication across Boundaries”, in Post-Tsunami Recovery in Thailand: Socio-cultural Responses (The Modern Anthropology of Southeast Asia), Abingdon, Oxfordshire; New York, N.Y.: Routledge, →ISBN, page 90

5. uncountablelawUsually 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.

   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.

   2 more examples

   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, [...]

   1740, [Mathew Bacon], “Injunctions”, in A New Abridgment of the Law. By a Gentleman of the Middle Temple, volume III, in the Savoy [London]: Printed by E. and R. Nutt, and R. Gosling, (assigns of E. Sayer, Esq;) for Henry Lintot, →OCLC, section C (How Dissolved), page 177

   [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.

   2014, Karel Wellens, “Failed Post-adjudicative Negotiations and Returning to the Court”, in Negotiations in the Case Law of the International Court of Justice: A Functional Analysis, Farnham, Surrey; Burlington, Vt.: Ashgate Publishing, →ISBN, part III (Negotiations during the Post-adjudicative Phase), page 311

6. countableobsoleteThe 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.

   c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 366, column 2

present singular third person merits · participle present meriting · participle past merited · past merited · first person past singular merited · archaic present second person singular meritest · past second person singular merited · archaic past second person singular meritedst · present singular third person merits · archaic present singular third person meriteth · past singular third person merited · past plural merited · past subjunctive merited · participle present meriting · participle past merited

1. transitiveTo deserve, to earn.

   Her performance merited wild applause.

   5 more examples

   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.

   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

   What other could I answer save "I come"? / I said it, somewhat with that colour ting'd / Which oftimes pardon meriteth for man.

   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

   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.

   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

   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.

   2001, Salman Rushdie, Fury: A Novel, London: Jonathan Cape, →ISBN, page 5

   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.

   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

2. intransitiveTo be deserving or worthy.

   They were punished as they merited.

   2 more examples

   [A]nd yet he bode them do yt, and they were bounde to obaye and meryted and deserued by theyr obedyēce.

   1532, Thomas More, The Cōfutacyon of Tyndales An­swere […], prentyd at London: By Wyllyam Rastell, →OCLC, page cclxxiiii

   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.

   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

3. obsoleteraretransitiveTo 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 thou wilt give ear / I’ll tell you how much he offers thee:—yet thou sitt’st angry here.

   [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