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• mercy
  mercy

  noun

  compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence.
• Mercy
  Mercy

  noun

  a female given name.

mercy

¹ American  

[mur-see] / ˈmɜr si /

noun

• mercies
  plural

1. compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence.

   Have mercy on the poor sinner.

   Synonyms:

   tenderness, lenity, leniency, clemency, indulgence, forgiveness, mildness

   Antonyms:

   cruelty

2. the disposition to be compassionate or forbearing.

   an adversary wholly without mercy.

3. the discretionary power of a judge to pardon someone or to mitigate punishment, especially to send to prison rather than invoke the death penalty.

4. an act of kindness, compassion, or favor.

   She has performed countless small mercies for her friends and neighbors.

5. something that gives evidence of divine favor; blessing.

   It was just a mercy we had our seat belts on when it happened.

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idioms

1. at the mercy of, entirely in the power of; subject to: Also at one's mercy.

   They were at the mercy of their captors.

Mercy ² American  

[mur-see] / ˈmɜr si /

noun

1. a female given name.

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mercy British  

/ ˈmɜːsɪ /

noun

1. compassionate treatment of or attitude towards an offender, adversary, etc, who is in one's power or care; clemency; pity

2. the power to show mercy

   to throw oneself on someone's mercy

3. a relieving or welcome occurrence or state of affairs

   his death was a mercy after weeks of pain

4. in the power of

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mercy More Idioms  

1. see at the mercy of.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• mercies
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mercy

First recorded in 1125–75; Middle English merci, from Old French, earlier mercit, from Latin mercēd-, stem of mercēs “wages” ( Late Latin, Medieval Latin: “heavenly reward”), derivative of merc-, stem of merx “commodity, goods, merchandise”

Explanation

Compassion leads you to have mercy, which is like forgiveness. If you have mercy on someone, you let them off the hook or are kind to them somehow. This is a quality that has to do with compassion, forgiveness, and leniency. If convicted of a crime, you might plead for the judge's mercy, meaning a lesser punishment. When people say "May God have mercy on me!" they're asking for forgiveness. Mercy may be given or received. You might show your little cousin mercy by not forcing him to eat a worm. People jokingly say a bad singer is showing mercy if she ends the show early.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mercy Mercy mercies

"You left Miss Harrison, I'm afraid, at the mercy of any individual who had aligned themselves with your lies."

From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026

“You’re kind of at the mercy of the customer-service department,” said Jackie Mondelli, chief marketing officer at Squaremouth, a travel-insurance comparison business.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 9, 2026

The lesson of a long life, and of ruling a small country, he suggests, is that minor states are perennially at the mercy of greater powers.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

Ahead of the sentencing, Reeves — the star of Rinsch’s most notable project to date — penned a letter in May requesting “leniency and mercy as well as justice” in the filmmaker’s sentencing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026

A lesser cat might have begged for mercy, but all I showed them was my scorn!

From "Klawde: Evil Alien Warlord Cat" by Johnny Marciano and Emily Chenoweth

About 200 of those flights are handled by Mercy Air, a for-profit service that flies patients and bills their insurers for the costs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

Mercy Gilbert Medical Center said in a statement that the hospital conducted "a thorough review of all aspects of the care provided to learn what happened and to make meaningful changes to strengthen our care".

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

I grew up with cats, dogs, birds, rats and bunnies, and my husband and I have a mutt, Mercy, whom we love dearly.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026

Doctors at St. Louis-based Mercy, which runs birthing hospitals in Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, began noticing an uptick in families turning down the vitamin K shot during the pandemic.

From Salon ● May 7, 2026

And then she did something special for me: she helped me apply to a private Catholic girls’ school, Our Lady of Mercy, for the eighth grade.

From "How Dare the Sun Rise" by Sandra Uwiringiyimana

Leaving it to another day to lay out guideposts for data-related warrants risked leaving Americans’ privacy to the tender mercies of zealous law enforcement and profit-minded corporations.

From Slate ● Jul. 1, 2026

Let us at least give thanks for small mercies.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 29, 2026

Suzanna’s problems include the apparent near-insolvency of her father upon his death—possibly jeopardizing her studies in psychology—and the untender mercies of her mother, Susan, played with delectable evil-queen imperiousness by Linda Emond.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 7, 2026

Chronically dependent on the not-so-tender mercies of a shrinking welfare state, they are doubly stigmatized: for their illness; and because they show few signs of reform or recovery.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 10, 2022

Then out of habit I fired off the Repentance Psalm: Have mercy upon me, O God, according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies.

From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver

Related Words

• benevolence
• blessing
• charity
• clemency
• forgiveness
• generosity
• goodwill
• grace
• leniency
• pity
• sympathy
• tolerance