merit
Something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or rewardSomething deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward.
Recorded US: Dvortygirl, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
» Naivete is his only merit.
Наивность — его единственное положительное качество. — Hellerick
Простакуватість - його єдине достоїнство. — ChickenKiev
Наївність - його єдина позитивна риса. — ChickenKiev
Tatoeba contributors · Tatoeba · CC BY 2.0 FRTranslations
9 languagesBy meaning 1
By meaning 3
By meaning 1
Examples
43 sentencesNaivete is his only merit.
Простакуватість - його єдине достоїнство. — ChickenKiev
ruНаивность — его единственное положительное качество. — Hellerick
Everybody has his merits and demerits.
ruУ всех есть свои достоинства и недостатки. — GranD
deJeder hat seine Verdienste und seine Schwächen. — Alois
I commended him according to his merits.
ruЯ похвалил его по заслугам. — carlosalberto
deIch lobte ihn nach seinen Verdiensten. — carlosalberto
Meaning
6 senses(countable, uncountable)Something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward.
His reward for his merit was a check for $50.
заслугаzasluga
заслу́гаzaslúha
(countable)A claim to commendation or a reward.
Verdienst
заслу́гаzaslúga, достоинствоdostoinstvo
(Jainism, uncountable)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.
to acquire or make merit
пу́ньяpúnʹja
More meanings 3
(countable)A mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence.
For her good performance in the examination, her teacher gave her ten merits.
(uncountable)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.
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.
(countable, obsolete)The quality or state of deserving retribution, whether reward or punishment.
the quality of being deserving (e.g., deserving assistance)
Origin
From Middle English merit, merite (“quality of person’s character or conduct deserving ofFrom 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.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
plural: meritsSynonyms
6 synonyms- any admirable quality or attribute:virtue
- the quality of being deserving (e.g., deserving assistance):deservingnessmeritoriousness
Antonyms
1 antonymsWord family
30 related wordsLessons for this word
1 lessons- A1Countable and uncountable nouns — Because it can be uncountable
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.