merit

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   any admirable quality or attribute

   work of great merit

2. 2
   noun

   A claim to commendation or a reward.

   [R]eputation is an idle and moſt falſe impoſition , oft got without merit and loſt without deſeruing.

3. 3
   noun

   A mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence.

   For her good performance in the examination, her teacher gave her ten merits.

4. 4
   noun

   Something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward.

   His reward for his merit was a check for $50.

5. 5
   noun

   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.

   to acquire or make merit

6. 6
   noun

   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.

   Even though the plaintiff was ordered by the judge to pay some costs for not having followed the correct procedure, she won the case on the merits.

7. 7
   noun

   The quality or state of deserving retribution, whether reward or punishment.

   Be it known, that we the greateſt are mis-thoght / For things that others do : and when we fall, / We anſwer others merits, in our name / Are therefore to be pittied.

8. 8
   verb

   To deserve, to earn.

   Her performance merited wild applause.

Etymology

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, dem…