HOW TO PRONOUNCE
merit
/ˈmɛɹɪt/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:03
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What does merit mean?
noun
- A claim to commendation or a reward.
- A mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence.
- Something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward.
More meanings (6)
noun
- 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.
- 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.
- (obsolete) The quality or state of deserving retribution, whether reward or punishment.
verb
- To deserve, to earn.
- To be deserving or worthy.
- (obsolete, rare) To reward.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ˈmɛɹɪt/
Wiktionary contributors · CC BY-SA 4.0 ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
O that estates, degrees, and offices Were not deriv’d corruptly, and that clear honour Were purchas’d by the merit of the wearer!
“I can’t flatter myself that I am doing so well simply by my own merit. And thank your mother for me, too!”
More book examples (3)
Or they never begin, none of their thoughts being judged by them to be altogether such as to merit the being preserved.
Also as regards the sense of devout or ritual merit and adequacy in this connection, little need be said in this place.
And his popularity, though gained by much merit, was lost by no greater crime than that of trusting too much to militia.