merit

Meaning

1. A claim to commendation or a reward.
2. A mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence.
3. Something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. (obsolete) The quality or state of deserving retribution, whether reward or punishment.

virtue

deserve

be worthy

good point

be worth

be a match for

great contributions

public affairs

good deeds

good quality

ability

be equal to

be worthy of

deservingness

moral

strong point

worthy of

meritorious deed

real power

entitled to

take home

one advantage

meritorious service

true strength

redeeming feature

social position

employment

validity

be deserving of

good result

merit as a protecting leaf

moral principle

power of merit

be deserving

makodza

caliber

competency

Frequency

Hyphenated as

mer‧it

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈmɛɹɪt/

The noun is derived from 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. The verb is derived from Middle French meriter, Old French meriter (“to deserve, merit”) (modern French mériter), from merite: see further above. The word is cognate with Italian meritare (“to deserve, merit; to be worth; to earn”), Latin meritāre (“to earn regularly; to serve as a soldier”), Spanish meritar (“to deserve, merit; to earn”).