Home British & World English merit

Definition of merit in English:

merit

noun

mass noun

  • 1The quality of being particularly good or worthy, especially so as to deserve praise or reward.

    ‘composers of outstanding merit’
    • ‘It makes no sense in a world that bases reward on merit alone, but our God operates on a different level.’
    • ‘A direct result of this tragedy was the Pendleton Act in 1883, which sought to make entry into the service dependent on merit rather than on reward.’
    • ‘All of this clearly has the appearance of rewards based on political favoritism, rather than rewards based on merit.’
    • ‘In its structure the ruling elite reflected a world of order and hierarchy in which promotion and status were rewarded on merit.’
    • ‘Trouble is, we couldn't think of many other people who deserved awards on merit.’
    • ‘In turn she sues the government for a position she deserved on merit.’
    • ‘Further, since he owed nothing and gave an infinite gift, he acquired merit and deserves a reward.’
    • ‘The selectors deserve credit for picking fourteen players on merit.’
    • ‘For me, he is a good player and deserves the European player of the year on merit.’
    • ‘It is hard to believe that all had shown equivalent levels of merit to deserve such elevation.’
    • ‘England's top sides are where they are on merit.’
    • ‘I worked hard on my college resume so I could get in based on merit.’
    • ‘Prospective trust board members will be selected on merit related to the skills they possess and the skills necessary to manage this reserve.’
    • ‘Some senior judges fear that an emphasis on appointing more women and ethnic minority judges would mean that appointments would no longer be based solely on merit.’
    • ‘Thus, the fight to improve lousy schools so that poor, bright children stand a better chance of getting to good universities on merit is utterly undermined.’
    • ‘Civil servants should be recruited on merit alone.’
    • ‘I wouldn't support any system that wasn't based purely on merit.’
    • ‘He knows progress in Europe will put a greater strain on his squad than ever before but he believes he has the foundations and the confidence of knowing they are there on merit.’
    • ‘A fair process for appointing candidates on merit must be at the heart of the new system, based on advice from the Equal Opportunities Commission.’
    • ‘A place where the system works in your favour and, by excluding others, creates for you a place where your work will be judged on merit alone.’
    excellence, goodness, standard, quality, level, grade, high quality, calibre, worth, good, credit, eminence, worthiness, value, virtue, distinction, account, deservingness, meritoriousness
    View synonyms
    1. 1.1count noun A good feature or point.
      ‘the relative merits of both approaches have to be considered’
      • ‘In such a system it is advantageous for colleagues to argue the relative merits of various approaches (just as we are doing now in Parameters).’
      • ‘Whatever the year and whatever the relative merits of new films, one can always find cinematic sanctuary somewhere in Cannes.’
      • ‘Whatever the relative merits of her argument, she builds it around a stinker of a movie that is so bad nobody wanted to see it in the first place.’
      • ‘The first chapter talks about the technologies available, the costs associated with each type and the relative merits of each approach.’
      • ‘Do you think that's any sort of hint about the relative merits of the two positions?’
      • ‘But whatever the commercial merits of that approach might be it would be fraught with political problems.’
      • ‘I call home from my mobile as I head for the bus, and conduct a brief conversation featuring the merits of green, as opposed to red, Thai chicken curry.’
      • ‘The film has merits and features material that is undeniably endearing.’
      • ‘My position is not a judgement on the relative merits of each article.’
      • ‘Would-be researchers would do well to think through the relative merits of these contrasting approaches.’
      • ‘There has been much debate in the community about the relative merits of the staged and continuous approaches.’
      • ‘It does not require a doctorate in economics to assess the relative merits of the Yes and No positions in the referendum campaign.’
      • ‘Often with experience comes an overly philosophical detachment - an overriding sensitivity to the relative merits of varying points of view.’
      • ‘There has even been a row about the relative merits of the British and American vaccines.’
      • ‘In court she has to wrestle with the relative merits of justice and compassion.’
      • ‘What are the relative merits of each and will they eliminate scale already built up?’
      • ‘In another thread, Smoothly suggested the idea of a thread on the relative merits of various TV news and current affairs programmes.’
      • ‘On the ground in Cumbria, there is still dispute about the relative merits of the disease control strategies.’
      • ‘Andy and Holly sat around the stereo, looking through cassettes and compact discs, animatedly discussing the relative merits of various forms of music.’
      • ‘As a collection the book is most valuable in illustrating the relative merits of approaching popular culture from the perspective of textual criticism or archivally based historical enquiry.’
      good point, strong point, advantage, benefit, value, profit, asset, plus, advisability
      View synonyms
    2. 1.2count noun A pass grade in an examination denoting above-average performance.
      Compare with distinction
      ‘if you expect to pass, why not go for a merit or a distinction?’
      Compare with distinction
      • ‘University admissions requirements will vary from institution to institution, but are likely to expect either a merit or a distinction grade.’
      • ‘I am pretty confident that I have passed all my assignments with high enough marks to proceed to the dissertation, with a few recent assignments scoring merits or distinctions.’
      • ‘Technical merit scores dipped as low as 5.2 to reflect the lack of jump content.’
      • ‘In October 2004, Dennis sat for his final examination in grade 12 and passed with a full certificate having got credits and merits in all the seven subjects.’
      • ‘The standard was extremely high with many students achieving distinctions and merits and all were congratulated on the excellence of their achievements.’
    3. 1.3meritsLaw The intrinsic rights and wrongs of a case, outside of any other considerations.
      ‘a plaintiff who has a good arguable case on the merits’
      • ‘Second, the letter does not seek to make submissions on the merits of the proposed judicial review application.’
      • ‘That will be a matter for consideration on the merits of any particular State legislation that does so.’
      • ‘Strictly speaking I do not think the Court of Appeal disposed of the application for judicial review on the merits, although it seems to me pretty clear what the decision would have been had it done so.’
      • ‘It does seem that when it comes to the control orders, there'll now be an interim control order, and then there'll be judicial review on the merits of that control order.’
      • ‘It is impossible for me to even speculate on the merits of the claim, and the merits are a relevant consideration.’
      • ‘That is to say there was no entitlement to judicial review on the merits of the question according to Justice Gray.’
      • ‘Does that tell you more than that the decision on the merits is wrong?’
      • ‘He argued that his clients have a good defense on the merits to the plaintiffs’ claim.’
      • ‘Can I then come to what the defendants say on the merits.’
      • ‘In my judgment, a court which grants provisional measures is not by virtue of that fact alone definitively seised of jurisdiction on the merits of the dispute.’
      • ‘The interests of justice are best served by an independent judiciary adjudicating on the merits of a given case based on application of the salient law.’
      • ‘On the merits the lord justice confined his observations to the matter of bias.’
      • ‘If evidence is presented by the defendant showing an arguable case on the merits in defence to the plaintiff's claim, this matter may be returned for reconsideration before any judge.’
      • ‘During the proceedings on the merits, negotiations aimed at securing a friendly settlement may be conducted.’
      • ‘That would have been quite inconsistent with the whole nature of a waiver as a discretion to be exercised on the merits of the individual case, and with the Waivers Policy.’
      • ‘The parties had agreed to arbitrate their disputes and after a substantial hearing the arbitrators had produced a detailed reasoned award on the merits.’
      • ‘First, he submits that in many significant respects the facts need to be resolved before anyone can make a meaningful judgment on the merits of either justification or qualified privilege.’
      • ‘Judgment having been signed against you, the judge considered whether you had a defence on the merits and he found that you did not.’
      • ‘Either it rules on the matter in an award on jurisdiction or it deals with the jurisdiction challenge in its award on the merits.’
      • ‘The question is not whether on the merits I consider that it would have been appropriate to grant leave.’
    4. 1.4meritsTheology Good deeds entitling someone to a future reward from God.

verbmerits, meriting, merited

[with object]

  • Deserve or be worthy of (reward, punishment, or attention)

    ‘the results have been encouraging enough to merit further investigation’
    • ‘All this would have merited some serious attention from Peter.’
    • ‘Jack thought it was a turning point, but did not think the foul merited the punishment.’
    • ‘Whereas virtually every player deserved the award at Reading on Tuesday, nobody merited the accolade last night.’
    • ‘While meriting attention by astronomers, there is no cause for public attention or public concern as an actual collision is very unlikely.’
    • ‘I could not detect any point meriting attention.’
    • ‘Your Honours, this is case where it is submitted the course of justice has gone awry to an extent meriting the attention of this Court.’
    • ‘According to the jury, there was none meriting these awards.’
    • ‘The final aspect of the criminal law meriting consideration concerns the sharpness of the line between killing and letting die.’
    • ‘It was a case on its own, meriting a careful consideration of what led to the sentencing and how it came about.’
    • ‘The final category of claimant meriting some consideration is the rescuer.’
    • ‘He identified four areas of complaint that in his judgment merited consideration by the full court and granted leave.’
    • ‘It may be that on that basis (though it is doubtful) the original award was merited.’
    • ‘Baptism was forced upon all Saxons; any public pagan practice merited a death penalty.’
    • ‘That stated, it has to be reported that it held the first night audience's attention and justly merited their cheers.’
    • ‘He developed four categories of criminals, each meriting different forms of punishment: Extreme, impulsive, professional, and endemic.’
    • ‘It merits our attention and deserves our recognition for work very well done.’
    • ‘By now the trend is prominent enough to have merited a New York Times Magazine cover story.’
    • ‘However, the shortage and hence high price of particular skills can often be significant enough to merit the attention of a strategic assessment.’
    • ‘Because the bill says that without a report of that panel there may be conduct meriting dismissal, the Attorney-General cannot take it further.’
    • ‘Whether it's a serious enough offense to merit professional sanctions I'll leave to others to decide.’
    deserve, earn, be deserving of, warrant, rate, justify, be worthy of, be worth, be entitled to, have a right to, have a claim on, have a claim to, be qualified for
    View synonyms

Phrases

    judge (or consider) something on its merits

    • Assess something solely with regard to its intrinsic quality rather than other external factors.

      ‘a proposal should be judged on its merits when it comes forward for approval’
      • ‘Now, that's a pretty bold claim to make but none the less I decided to let it pass and judge the piece on its merits rather than immediately begin to make a list of other possible contenders for the title.’
      • ‘All arrears will have to paid in full but customs officials will be prepared to discuss settlement over a period of time and judge each case on its merits rather than hitting firms with a huge bill.’
      • ‘On the question of the timing of accession, he said that each country would be judged on its merits, but in principle it would be better were Bulgaria and Romania to join the union simultaneously.’
      • ‘City of York Council has said the application would be judged on its merits.’
      • ‘Mr Bailey said any application would be considered on its merits and would have to fit in with other buildings.’
      • ‘As with all applications to the Community Fund each application will be considered on its merits as well as in relation to its relevance to Community Fund priorities.’
      • ‘Every claim will be considered on its merits so in genuine cases people have no need to worry.’
      • ‘It says each application will be considered on its merits, taking into account issues such as littering, fouling, noise and street crime.’
      • ‘‘Each case will be considered on its merits in light of legal advice,’ he said.’
      • ‘But the director of Government affairs for Central Railway said: ‘If the case is judged on its merits, then we can be confident of a positive outcome.’’
      • ‘I think I refer to, in my submission, a triage approach where each individual case is judged on its merits.’
      • ‘He's entitled to serve his term and to fulfill his responsibilities, and I'd be judging his performance on its merits and making my decisions about reappointment on that basis.’
      • ‘And that's to revert to judging every case on its merits.’
      • ‘These three, plus a Cartwright official, judged each painting on its merits.’
      • ‘When undertaking a review, a chief constable is required to judge each case on its merits and to take any extra information not originally available into account.’
      • ‘But I think we've got decent referees in the Premiership and you'd like to think they won't be swayed by anything they've seen or heard and they just judge every game on its merits.’
      • ‘We judge each situation on its merits and work towards resolving the problem.’
      • ‘Yesterday a spokesman for the RAF said: ‘We have not got a blanket ban on wind turbines as such and judge each case on its merits.’’
      • ‘I think if we are going to look again at these three libraries, we should certainly look at all libraries in the borough and judge each case on its merits.’
      • ‘He spends most of his article indulging in irrelevance and generally missing the point entirely - which is to judge the book on its merits.’

Origin

Middle English (originally in the sense ‘deserved reward or punishment’): via Old French from Latin meritum ‘due reward’, from mereri ‘earn, deserve’.

Pronunciation

merit

/ˈmɛrɪt/