# merit

Pronunciation: say "ME-rit" /ˈmɛɹɪt/

## Noun

1. The quality of being deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward.
   - Simple: The good qualities in something that make it worth praising or rewarding.
   - _The proposal has genuine merit and deserves serious attention._
   - _Judges evaluated each entry on its artistic merit alone._
3. A justified claim to commendation or to a reward.
   - Simple: A fair reason that gives someone a right to be praised or rewarded.
   - _The application set out each merit in clear detail._
   - _Her professional merits gave her a strong claim to the role._
4. A mark or token given to show approval or to recognize excellence.
   - Simple: A mark or award given to recognize good work.
   - _Each correct answer earned the pupil a merit._
   - _He racked up enough merits to win the class prize._
5. The substantive rightness or wrongness of a legal argument or lawsuit, as distinct from technical matters like the admissibility of evidence or procedure; by extension, the overall quality or rightness of anything.
   - Simple: Whether a legal case is really right or wrong, not its technical rules, or how good or bad anything is.
   - _The court declined to rule on the merits until procedural questions were settled._
   - _Judges may dismiss a timely, properly filed claim without merit before it ever reaches trial._
7. A person's accumulated good deeds, believed to determine how favorable their next existence will be and help them progress toward enlightenment.
   - Simple: The good gained from a person's kind deeds, believed to shape their future lives.
   - _Devotees make offerings at the temple to accumulate merit._
   - _Releasing the caged birds was thought to generate merit._

## Verb

2. To deserve or earn something through one's qualities or actions.
   - Simple: To deserve something because of what you have done.
   - _The novel merits a place among the year's finest works._
   - _Few proposals merit this level of scrutiny._
6. To be deserving or worthy of something.
   - Simple: To be good enough to deserve something.
   - _Honors were distributed strictly as each candidate merited._
   - _Soldiers advance as they merit, without favoritism._

## Noun

8. The quality or state of deserving retribution, whether that retribution is reward or punishment. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: The state of deserving what you get, whether a reward or a punishment.

## Verb

9. To reward someone, bestowing a return for their service or worth. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: To give someone a reward.
   - _The abbot merited the pilgrims with bread and shelter._
   - _Ancient patrons would merit their poets with purses of silver._

## Origin

The noun comes from Middle English "merit," borrowed via Anglo-Norman and Old French "merite" (moral worth, reward) from Latin "meritum" (that which one deserves, reward, value), a form of the verb "mereō" (to deserve, earn), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European "*(s)mer-" (to allot, assign). It is probably related to Ancient Greek "méros" (part, portion, lot). The verb comes from Middle and Old French "meriter" (to deserve, merit), from the same root.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/merit (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).