demerit

American  

[dih-mer-it] / dɪˈmɛr ɪt /

noun

1. a mark against a person for misconduct or deficiency.

   If you receive four demerits during a term, you will be expelled from school.

2. the quality of being censurable or punishable; fault; culpability.

3. Obsolete. merit or desert.

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demerit British  

/ diːˈmɛrɪt, ˈdiːˌmɛrɪt /

noun

1. something, esp conduct, that deserves censure

2. a mark given against a person for failure or misconduct, esp in schools or the armed forces

3. a fault or disadvantage

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Other Word Forms

• demeritorious
  adjective
• demeritoriously
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of demerit

1350–1400; Middle English (< Old French desmerite ) < Medieval Latin dēmeritum fault, noun use of neuter past participle of Latin dēmerēre to earn, win the favor of ( dē- taken in ML as privative, hence pejorative). See de-, merit

Explanation

A demerit is a mark for doing something wrong. Running in the hall at school might get you one demerit. Running in the hall naked could get you a demerit that will go down on your permanent record. Avoid! A demerit is also a fault or weakness. If you're trying to decide which candidate to vote for, consider the merits and demerits of each. The other kind of demerit is a punishment — a negative mark against someone, especially a student or a member of the military. Your teacher might have a policy of handing out three demerits before requiring students to stay after school for detention. The Old French desmerite combines des-, "not," and merite, "merit," or "worth."

Example Sentences

Scene of the attempted break was the Detention Demerit Building, popularly known as Cherry Hill, where the prison's most unruly criminals are kept.

From Time Magazine Archive

Demerit for absences and other irregularities is also marked in like manner, and made the basis of discipline.

From A Collection of College Words and Customs by Hall, Benjamin Homer

If there is no such Thing as Free-Will in Creatures, there can be neither Merit nor Demerit in Creatures.

From Benjamin Franklin Representative selections, with introduction, bibliograpy, and notes by Jorgenson, Chester E.

Of Merit and Demerit; or of the objects of reward and punishment.

From An Essay on the History of Civil Society, Eighth Edition by Ferguson, Adam

Demerit for the graduating class ceases to count after the 1st of June, and the individual sense of honor and duty is about the only restraint against lapses of discipline.

From Starlight Ranch and Other Stories of Army Life on the Frontier by King, Charles