merits
Britishplural noun
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the actual and intrinsic rights and wrongs of an issue, esp in a law case, as distinct from extraneous matters and technicalities
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on the intrinsic qualities or virtues
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.
You can tell you love the song on the merits.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 10, 2026
Lancashire-born Scotland international Scott McTominay certainly merits his place in this line-up despite a quiet World Cup.
From BBC • Jul. 8, 2026
For the merits docket, we counted only signed decisions in argued cases, the typical format for those rulings.
From Salon • Jul. 3, 2026
Don’t obsess over taxes, he advises, but invest on the merits and pay what you owe.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 1, 2026
Together we discussed and gravely considered the relative merits of side compression straps, spindrift collars, crampon patches, load transfer differentials, air-flow channels, webbing loops, and something called the occipital cutout ratio.
From "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson
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.
