merit
Americannoun
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merits
plural
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claim to respect and praise; excellence; worth.
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something that deserves or justifies a reward or commendation; a commendable quality, act, etc..
The book's only merit is its sincerity.
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merits, the inherent rights and wrongs of a matter, as a lawsuit, unobscured by procedural details, technicalities, personal feelings, etc..
The case will be decided on its merits alone.
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Often merits. the state or fact of deserving; desert.
to treat people according to their merits.
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Roman Catholic Church. worthiness of spiritual reward, acquired by righteous acts made under the influence of grace.
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Obsolete. something that is deserved, whether good or bad.
verb (used with object)
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merits,
present (3rd person singular)
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merited,
past participle, past
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meriting
present participle
verb (used without object)
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merits,
present (3rd person singular)
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merited,
past participle, past
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meriting
present participle
adjective
noun
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worth or superior quality; excellence
work of great merit
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(often plural) a deserving or commendable quality or act
judge him on his merits
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Christianity spiritual credit granted or received for good works
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the fact or state of deserving; desert
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an obsolete word for reward
verb
Synonym Usage
See desert 3.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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self-meritnoun
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overmeritverb
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premeritverb (used with object)
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half-meritedadjective
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meritedadjective
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meritlessadjective
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unmeritedadjective
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well-meritedadjective
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meritedlyadverb
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unmeritedlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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meritsimple
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meritssimple
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have meritedperfect
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has meritedperfect
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am meritingprogressive
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are meritingprogressive
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is meritingprogressive
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have been meritingperfect progressive
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has been meritingperfect progressive
Past
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meritedsimple
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had meritedperfect
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was meritingprogressive
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were meritingprogressive
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had been meritingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of merit
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English, from Latin meritum “act worthy of praise (or blame),” noun use of neuter of meritus, past participle of merēre “to earn”
Explanation
Merit means "worthiness or excellence." If you receive a certificate of merit in school, you are being recognized for doing a good job. As a verb, merit means "deserve." Your certificate might merit a prominent place on your bulletin board! You will often hear the phrases "merit-based promotion" and "merit-based pay," which come up when employees are pushing against a system in which time on the job — and not job performance — determines when workers are promoted and how much they are paid. Using the word merit suggests impartiality and objectivity — such as when you swear off a prejudiced approach to something and vow to "judge it on its merits."
Vocabulary lists containing merit
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Combs denied Jane Doe's claims, which his lawyer described at the time as one of a number of civil cases "pushed forward by an attorney more focused on media headlines than legal merit".
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2026
A Marsh survey of more than 1,000 U.S. employers found the average planned merit increase for 2027 is 3.2%, the lion’s share of a total raise budget of 3.5%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
Aimee said that she knew what she wanted to do creatively early in life, and she wanted to do it on her own merit and be taken seriously.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
The silence, for once, may merit the cliché “deafening.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
I wonder if he ever won a merit badge for being Most Annoying.
From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman
But the sincerity of his concern says little about the merits of the rules he wanted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 23, 2026
It’s become more difficult to convince people of “bad” media’s merits, to encourage them to see with eyes other than their own.
From Salon ● Sep. 23, 2026
He said: "The merits or otherwise of a regional approach can be debated but it is essential that local views and decision-making are maintained, along with substantial transfer of powers."
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
Discuss the merits of a revocable living trust with your attorney.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 21, 2026
During the Mets’ championship season, Lourdes and her father discussed each game like generals plotting a battle, assessing the merits of Tom Seaver, Ed Kranepool, and Jerry Koosman.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
However, Kuwaki more than merited her celebrations in the fading daylight, not that you could have missed her with her mint-green top and luminous green ball.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
As a long-term shareholder in both companies, Norges Bank Investment Management said it understood the rationale for a combination and the proposal merited consideration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026
The referee used the video assistant referee to review the play and determined it merited a red card.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026
In the early days, spreads are often wider than merited, and volatility levels are unusually elevated.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
“If it were a sceptre,” Franklin remarked, “he has merited it and would become it.”
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Mental-health professionals are recognizing chatbot delusions and psychosis as a phenomenon meriting further study.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 23, 2026
"They are accurate enough at this point to start meriting some consideration," he said.
From Salon ● Sep. 14, 2023
"The Court should not mistake the FTC’s litigation gamesmanship for an emergency meriting this Court’s deviation from the ordinary appellate process," the company wrote.
From Reuters ● Jul. 14, 2023
One of the most entertaining teams in the Premier League and fully meriting a place in the Europa League for the first time in Brighton's history.
From BBC ● May 29, 2023
Of the men and women prominent in this movement since 1860, whose names are not mentioned in the first volume, the one meriting the first place is beyond doubt Dr. R. T. Brown of Indianapolis.
From History of Woman Suffrage, Volume III by Elizabeth Cady Stanton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
