merciful
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English merciful, mercyful, equivalent to mercy + -ful. Displaced native Old English mildheort.
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈmɜːsɪfl̩/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˈmɝsɪfl̩/
Audio (US) (file) - Hyphenation: mer‧ci‧ful
Adjective edit
merciful (comparative more merciful, superlative most merciful)
- Showing mercy.
- 1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC:
- `Listen, Holly. Thou art a good and honest man, and I fain would spare thee; but, oh! it is so hard for woman to be merciful.'
- 1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass., New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:
- The murderer, he recalled, had been tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life, but was pardoned by a merciful governor after serving a year of his sentence.
Synonyms edit
Antonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
showing mercy
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