Definition of merit

"merit" in the noun sense

1. merit, virtue

any admirable quality or attribute

"work of great merit"

2. deservingness, merit, meritoriousness

the quality of being deserving (e.g., deserving assistance

"there were many children whose deservingness he recognized and rewarded"

"merit" in the verb sense

1. deserve, merit

be worthy or deserving

"You deserve a promotion after all the hard work you have done"

Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)

Princeton University "About WordNet®."
WordNet®. Princeton University. 2010.


View WordNet® License

Quotations for merit

Merit challenges envy. [ Dryden ]

Money cannot buy merit. [ Proverb ]

Merit was ever modest known. [ Gay ]

There is a proud modesty in merit. [ Dryden ]

Praises from an enemy imply real merit. [ Proverb ]

There's a proud modesty in merit!
Averse from asking, and resolved to pay
Ten times the gifts it asks. [ Dryden ]

On their own merits modest men are dumb. [ George Colman ]

A work of real merit finds favour at last. [ A. B. Alcott ]

A coxcomb is the blockhead's man of merit. [ La Bruyere ]

Lend me thy clarion goodness! let me try
To sound the praise of merit ere it dies.
Such as I oft have chanced to espy,
Lost in the dreary shades of dull obscurity. [ Shenstone ]

The greatest merit of some men is their wife. [ Poincelot ]

He, who would free from malice pass his days,
Must live obscure, and never merit praise. [ Gay ]

Mere bashfulness without merit is awkwardness. [ Addison ]

Not a man, for being simply man,
Hath any honour, but honour for those honours
That are without him, as place, riches, favour,
Prizes of accident, as oft as merit. [ William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida ]

I've learned to judge of men by their own deeds;
I do not make the accident of birth
The standard of their merit. [ Mrs. Hale ]

Nature makes merit, and fortune puts it to work. [ Rochefoucauld ]

Beauties in vain their pretty eyes may roll;
Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul. [ Pope ]

Charms strike the sight, but merit wins the soul. [ Pope ]

Whoever gains the palm by merit, let him hold it. [ Thomas Nelson, Latin Proverb ]

I love the lineage of heroes, but I love merit more. [ Frederick the Great ]

Plagiarists, at least, have the merit of preservation. [ Disraeli ]

Merit is born with men; happy those with whom it dies! [ Queen Christina ]

Jealousy is the homage that inferiority pays to merit. [ Mme. de Puisieux ]

A noble soul has no other merit than to be a noble soul. [ Schiller ]

A great name without merit is like an epitaph on a coffin. [ Mme. de Puisieux ]

A man without ceremony has need of great merit in its place. [ Proverb ]

Reputation is often got without merit, and lost without crime. [ Proverb ]

Modesty is the chastity of merit, the virginity of noble souls. [ E. de Girardin ]

Those who are greedy of praise prove that they are poor in merit. [ Plutarch ]

Jealousy is an awkward homage which inferiority renders to merit. [ Madame de Puisieux ]

Light is no less favourable to merit than unfavourable to imposture. [ H. Home ]

True merit, like a river, the deeper it is, the less noise it makes. [ Lord Halifax ]

Celebrity is the chastisement of merit, and the punishment of talent. [ Chamfort ]

We always find wit and merit in those who look at us with admiration.

There is more merit in subduing a passion than in avenging an injury. [ Mascaron ]

Pride, in boasting of family antiquity, makes duration stand for merit. [ Zimmermann ]

Nature gives parts and merit, but it is fortune that brings them forth. [ Proverb ]

The sufficiency of my merit is to know that my merit is not sufficient. [ St. Augustine ]

Speak little and well, if you wish to be considered as possessing merit. [ From the French ]

It never occurs to fools that merit and good fortune are closely united. [ Goethe ]

Dignities and honours set off merit, as good dress does handsome persons. [ Proverb ]

It is the merit of those who praise that makes the value of the commendation. [ Mlle. de Lespinasse ]

All merit ceases the moment we perform an act for the sake of its consequences.
Truly, in this respect we have our reward. [ Wilhelm von Humboldt ]

There is merit without elevation, but there is no elevation without some merit. [ Rochefoucauld ]

Who thinks a woman hath no merit, but her money, deserve , to be made a cuckold. [ Proverb ]

The world more frequently recompenses the appearance of merit, than merit itself. [ Rochefoucauld ]

Must one rash word, the infirmity of age, throw down the merit of my better years? [ Addison ]

The weakness of woman gives to some men a victory that their merit would never gain.

One merit of poetry few persons will deny: it says more and in fewer words than prose. [ Voltaire ]

It is of no consequence of what parents any man is born, so that he be a man of merit. [ Horace ]

Be thou the first true merit to befriend, His praise is lost who waits till all commend. [ Pope ]

The flowers strewed on the grave of merit, are the most grateful incense to living worth. [ W. Mavor ]

The mark of extraordinary merit is to see those most envious of it constrained to praise. [ La Rochefoucauld ]

To be loved, we should merit but little esteem; all superiority attracts awe and aversion. [ Helvetius ]

The silence that accepts merit as the most natural thing in the world is the highest applause. [ Emerson ]

We first truly praise an artist when the merit of his work is such as to make us forget himself. [ Lessing ]

The best evidence of merit is a cordial recognition of it whenever and wherever it may be found. [ Bovee ]

Love is the passion of great souls: it makes them merit glory, when it does not turn their heads. [ Mme. de Pompadour ]

Reputation is an idle and most false imposition: oft got without merit, and lost without deserving. [ William Shakespeare ]

Sweet is the breath of praise when given by those whose own high merit claims the praise they give. [ Hannah More ]

True merit, wherever found, is ever modest, just as the well-filled heads of grain are always bent. [ Charles Dickens ]

He that sows the ground with diligence gains more religious merit than by repeating ten thousand prayers. [ Zoroaster ]

In politics, merit is rewarded by the possessor being raised, like a target, to a position to be fired at. [ Bovee ]

The art of putting well into play mediocre qualities often begets more reputation than true merit achieves. [ Rochefoucauld ]

A lover is a herald who proclaims the merit, the wit, or the beauty of a woman: what does a husband proclaim? [ Balzac ]

Contemporaries appreciate the man rather than the merit; posterity will regard the merit rather than the man. [ Charles Buxton ]

Women are right to crave beauty at any price, since beauty is the only merit that men do not contest with them. [ A. Dupuy ]

Real friendship is a slow grower; and never thrives unless engrafted upon a stock of known and reciprocal merit. [ Chesterfield ]

The flatterer easily insinuates himself into the closet, while honest merit stands shivering in the hall or antechamber. [ Jane Porter ]

The power of fortune is confessed only by the miserable; for the happy impute all their successes to prudence and merit. [ Swift ]

It is no less merit to keep what you have got than to gain it. In the one there is chance; the other will be a work of art. [ Ovid ]

The art of being able to make a good use of moderate abilities wins esteem and often confers more reputation than real merit. [ La Bruyere ]

We like morality when we are old, because we make of it a merit for the numerous privations which have become for us a necessity. [ Mme. de Salm ]

Oh, that estates, degrees, and offices were not derived corruptly, and that clear honor were purchased by the merit of the wearer! [ William Shakespeare ]

A homely man of merit is never repulsive: as soon as he is named, his physique is forgotten; the mind passes through it to see the soul. [ Romainville ]

When we exaggerate the tenderness of our friends towards us, it is often less from gratitude than from a desire to exhibit our own merit. [ La Rochefoucauld ]

Homeliness is almost as great a merit in a book as in a house, if the reader would abide there. It is next to beauty, and a very high art. [ Thoreau ]

There is no merit where there is no trial; and, till experience stamps the mark of strength, cowards may pass for heroes, faith for falsehood. [ Aaron Hill ]

Men of real merit, and whose noble and glorious deeds we are ready to acknowledge, are yet not to be endured when they vaunt their own actions. [ Aeschines ]

Merit is never so conspicuous as when coupled with an obscure origin, just as the moon never appears so lustrous as when it emerges from a cloud. [ Bovee ]

There should be, methinks, as little merit in loving a woman for her beauty as in loving a man for his prosperity; both being equally subject to change. [ Pope ]

The merit of originality is not novelty; it is sincerity. The believing man is the original man; whatsoever he believes, he believes it for himself, not for another. [ Carlyle ]

I am told so many ill things of a man, and I see so few in him, that I begin to suspect he has a real but troublesome merit, as being likely to eclipse that of others. [ Bruyere ]

All the makers of dictionaries, all the compilers of opinions already printed, we may term plagiarists, but honest plagiarists, who arrogate not the merit of invention. [ Voltaire ]

Reputation is in itself only a farthing-candle, of wavering and uncertain flame, and easily blown out, but it is the light by which the world looks for and finds merit. [ Lowell ]

In ambition, as in love, the successful can afford to be indulgent towards their rivals. The prize our own, it is graceful to recognize the merit that vainly aspired to it. [ Bovee ]

Reputation is rarely proportioned, to virtue. We have seen a thousand people esteemed, either for the merit, they had not yet attained or for that they no longer possessed. [ St. Evremond ]

We esteem in the world those who do not merit our esteem, and neglect persons of true worth; but the world is like the ocean - the pearl is in its depths, the seaweed swims. [ G. P. Morris ]

There is scarce any man who cannot persuade himself of his own merit. Has he commonsense, he prefers it to genius; has he some diminutive virtues, he prefers them to great talents. [ Sewall ]

Praise in the beginning is agreeable enough, and we receive it as a favor; but when it comes in great quantities, we regard it only as a debt, which nothing but our merit could extort. [ Goldsmith ]

Noble blood! bah! What blood is more noble or so pure as that of the lion? And yet he is only a brute. It is merit, education and virtue, not blood, that lift men above the level of the brutes. [ Michael le Faucheur ]

Self-love increases or diminishes for us the good qualities of our friends, in proportion to the satisfaction we feel with them; and we judge of their merit by the manner in which they act towards us. [ La Rochefoucauld ]

Friendship is more firmly secured by lenity toward failings than by attachment to excellence; the former is valued as a kindness, which cannot be claimed; the latter is exalted to the payment of a debt to merit. [ W. B. Clulow ]

The first merit of pictures is the effect which they can produce upon the mind; and the first step of a sensible man should be to receive involuntary effects from them. Pleasure and inspiration first, analysis afterward. [ Beecher ]

A poet of superior merit, whose vein is of no vulgar kind, who never winds off anything trite, nor coins a trivial poem at the public mint, I cannot describe, but only recognise as a man whose soul is free from all anxiety. [ Juv ]

All the makers of dictionaries, all compilers who do nothing else than repeat backwards and forwards the opinions, the errors, the impostures, and the truths already printed, we may term plagiarists: but honest plagiarists, who arrogate not the merit of invention. [ Voltaire ]

We are not fond of praising, and never praise any one except from interested motives. Praise is a clever, concealed, and delicate flattery, which gratifies in different ways the giver and the receiver. The one takes it as a recompense of his merit, and the other bestows it to display his equity and discernment. [ Rochefoucauld ]

A few words worthy to be remembered suffice to give an idea of a great mind. There are single thoughts that contain the essence of a whole volume, single sentences that have the beauties of a large work, a simplicity so finished and so perfect that it equals in merit and in excellence a large and glorious composition. [ Joubert ]

There is nothing more necessary to establish reputation than to suspend the enjoyment of it. He that cannot bear the sense of merit with silence must of necessity destroy it; for fame being the genial mistress of mankind, whoever gives it to himself insults all to whom he relates any circumstance to his own advantage. [ Steele ]

Great merit or great failings will make you respected or despised; but trifles, little attentions, mere nothings, either done or neglected, will make you either liked or disliked, in the general run of the world. Examine yourself, why you like such and such people and dislike such and such others; and you will find that those different sentiments proceed from very slight causes. [ Chesterfield ]

Fame, we may understand, is no sure test of merit, but only a probability of such: it is an accident, not a property, of a man; like light, it can give little or nothing, but at most may show what is given; often it is but a false glare, dazzling the eyes of the vulgar, lending, by casual extrinsic splendour, the brightness and manifold glance of the diamond to pebbles of no value. [ Carlyle ]

We acquire the love of people who, being in our proximity, are presumed to know us; and we receive reputation or celebrity, from such as are not personally acquainted with us. Merit secures to us the regard of our honest neighbors, and good fortune that of the public. Esteem is the harvest of a whole life spent in usefulness; but reputation is often bestowed upon a chance action, and depends most on success. [ G. A. Sala ]

merit in Scrabble®

The word merit is playable in Scrabble®, no blanks required.

Scrabble® Letter Score: 7

Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays In The Letters merit:

MITRE
(30)
MITER
(30)
MERIT
(30)
 

All Scrabble® Plays For The Word merit

MERIT
(30)
MERIT
(26)
MERIT
(24)
MERIT
(24)
MERIT
(24)
MERIT
(21)
MERIT
(21)
MERIT
(21)
MERIT
(20)
MERIT
(20)
MERIT
(18)
MERIT
(16)
MERIT
(16)
MERIT
(15)
MERIT
(14)
MERIT
(14)
MERIT
(14)
MERIT
(14)
MERIT
(14)
MERIT
(11)
MERIT
(11)
MERIT
(9)
MERIT
(9)
MERIT
(9)
MERIT
(9)
MERIT
(9)
MERIT
(8)
MERIT
(8)
MERIT
(8)
MERIT
(7)

The 200 Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays For Words Using The Letters In merit

MITRE
(30)
MITER
(30)
MERIT
(30)
TRIM
(27)
ITEM
(27)
TERM
(27)
MITE
(27)
MIRE
(27)
MITER
(26)
MERIT
(26)
MITRE
(26)
MERIT
(24)
REMIT
(24)
MERIT
(24)
MERIT
(24)
TIMER
(24)
MITER
(24)
MITER
(24)
MITER
(24)
MITRE
(24)
TIMER
(24)
MITRE
(24)
MITRE
(24)
TIMER
(24)
REMIT
(24)
TIMER
(24)
REMIT
(24)
REMIT
(24)
MITER
(21)
MITE
(21)
RIME
(21)
TIMER
(21)
MITRE
(21)
ITEM
(21)
MITRE
(21)
TERM
(21)
MITRE
(21)
MERIT
(21)
MIRE
(21)
TIMER
(21)
TRIM
(21)
EMIR
(21)
MITER
(21)
MITER
(21)
TIMER
(21)
EMIT
(21)
EMIT
(21)
REMIT
(21)
TIME
(21)
REMIT
(21)
EMIR
(21)
MERIT
(21)
RIME
(21)
TIME
(21)
REMIT
(21)
MERIT
(21)
MITRE
(20)
MITRE
(20)
MITER
(20)
MERIT
(20)
MERIT
(20)
MITER
(20)
ITEM
(18)
MITE
(18)
MITE
(18)
MITE
(18)
MITE
(18)
MIRE
(18)
MITE
(18)
ITEM
(18)
MIRE
(18)
MERIT
(18)
EMIR
(18)
TIME
(18)
MIRE
(18)
TIME
(18)
TIME
(18)
TIME
(18)
ITEM
(18)
ITEM
(18)
MIRE
(18)
MIRE
(18)
RIME
(18)
ITEM
(18)
TIMER
(18)
EMIR
(18)
REMIT
(18)
EMIT
(18)
TERM
(18)
TRIM
(18)
EMIT
(18)
TERM
(18)
TRIM
(18)
EMIR
(18)
REMIT
(18)
EMIT
(18)
TERM
(18)
MITRE
(18)
EMIT
(18)
EMIR
(18)
RIME
(18)
TERM
(18)
RIME
(18)
MITER
(18)
TRIM
(18)
RIME
(18)
TERM
(18)
TIMER
(18)
TRIM
(18)
TRIM
(18)
MITER
(16)
MITRE
(16)
REMIT
(16)
MITER
(16)
MERIT
(16)
REMIT
(16)
REMIT
(16)
MERIT
(16)
REMIT
(16)
MITRE
(16)
TIMER
(16)
TIMER
(16)
TIMER
(16)
TIMER
(16)
MITER
(15)
MERIT
(15)
TIRE
(15)
TIER
(15)
MET
(15)
MET
(15)
TIER
(15)
MITRE
(15)
MET
(15)
RIM
(15)
TIRE
(15)
RIM
(15)
RITE
(15)
RITE
(15)
RIM
(15)
TIMER
(14)
MITE
(14)
MITER
(14)
RIME
(14)
MITER
(14)
ITEM
(14)
MITER
(14)
TIMER
(14)
RIME
(14)
MIRE
(14)
TRIM
(14)
MITER
(14)
MITER
(14)
EMIR
(14)
REMIT
(14)
MITRE
(14)
MITRE
(14)
MITRE
(14)
TERM
(14)
MITRE
(14)
TIMER
(14)
EMIT
(14)
REMIT
(14)
MITRE
(14)
EMIR
(14)
EMIT
(14)
REMIT
(14)
REMIT
(14)
REMIT
(14)
TIMER
(14)
MERIT
(14)
MERIT
(14)
TIME
(14)
TIME
(14)
MERIT
(14)
MERIT
(14)
MERIT
(14)
TIMER
(14)
REMIT
(13)
TIMER
(13)
EM
(12)
TIME
(12)
TIRE
(12)
ITEM
(12)
TERM
(12)
ITEM
(12)
MI
(12)
TRIM
(12)
EMIR
(12)
EMIT
(12)
MIRE
(12)
TERM
(12)
TERM
(12)
EMIR
(12)
TERM
(12)
EMIT
(12)
ME
(12)
ME
(12)
EMIT
(12)
EMIT
(12)
TRIM
(12)

merit in Words With Friends™

The word merit is playable in Words With Friends™, no blanks required.

Words With Friends™ Letter Score: 8

Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays In The Letters merit:

MITER
(48)
MITRE
(48)
MERIT
(48)
 

All Words With Friends™ Plays For The Word merit

MERIT
(48)
MERIT
(32)
MERIT
(32)
MERIT
(30)
MERIT
(30)
MERIT
(30)
MERIT
(24)
MERIT
(24)
MERIT
(24)
MERIT
(24)
MERIT
(20)
MERIT
(18)
MERIT
(18)
MERIT
(18)
MERIT
(18)
MERIT
(18)
MERIT
(17)
MERIT
(16)
MERIT
(16)
MERIT
(16)
MERIT
(16)
MERIT
(16)
MERIT
(14)
MERIT
(13)
MERIT
(13)
MERIT
(13)
MERIT
(12)
MERIT
(12)
MERIT
(12)
MERIT
(10)
MERIT
(10)
MERIT
(10)
MERIT
(10)
MERIT
(10)
MERIT
(10)
MERIT
(9)
MERIT
(9)
MERIT
(9)
MERIT
(9)
MERIT
(8)

The 200 Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays Using The Letters In merit

MITER
(48)
MITRE
(48)
MERIT
(48)
TRIM
(45)
ITEM
(45)
TERM
(45)
MITE
(45)
MIRE
(45)
TIMER
(32)
REMIT
(32)
MITRE
(32)
MITER
(32)
MITER
(32)
MERIT
(32)
MERIT
(32)
MITRE
(32)
TIMER
(30)
MITRE
(30)
TIMER
(30)
MITER
(30)
MITER
(30)
MITER
(30)
MERIT
(30)
MITRE
(30)
MERIT
(30)
MITRE
(30)
MERIT
(30)
TIMER
(30)
REMIT
(30)
REMIT
(30)
TIMER
(30)
REMIT
(30)
REMIT
(30)
EMIR
(27)
TIME
(27)
ITEM
(27)
TRIM
(27)
EMIT
(27)
RIME
(27)
MIRE
(27)
TERM
(27)
EMIR
(27)
RIME
(27)
MITE
(27)
TIME
(27)
EMIT
(27)
TIMER
(24)
MITER
(24)
MITER
(24)
TIMER
(24)
MITER
(24)
MITER
(24)
MITRE
(24)
REMIT
(24)
MITRE
(24)
TIMER
(24)
MERIT
(24)
MITRE
(24)
REMIT
(24)
MITRE
(24)
MERIT
(24)
REMIT
(24)
MERIT
(24)
MERIT
(24)
MIRE
(22)
TERM
(22)
TRIM
(22)
MITE
(22)
ITEM
(22)
TERM
(21)
TIME
(21)
EMIR
(21)
TIME
(21)
ITEM
(21)
EMIT
(21)
EMIT
(21)
RIME
(21)
ITEM
(21)
MITE
(21)
EMIR
(21)
TIME
(21)
EMIR
(21)
RIME
(21)
TRIM
(21)
EMIR
(21)
TIME
(21)
RIME
(21)
ITEM
(21)
MITE
(21)
TRIM
(21)
ITEM
(21)
MITE
(21)
TERM
(21)
MITE
(21)
TERM
(21)
TRIM
(21)
EMIT
(21)
MIRE
(21)
RIME
(21)
MIRE
(21)
EMIT
(21)
MIRE
(21)
MIRE
(21)
TERM
(21)
TRIM
(21)
MITRE
(20)
MITER
(20)
REMIT
(20)
MERIT
(20)
REMIT
(20)
TIMER
(20)
TIMER
(20)
TIMER
(18)
TIER
(18)
MERIT
(18)
MITER
(18)
TIMER
(18)
TIMER
(18)
RIM
(18)
MERIT
(18)
MERIT
(18)
TIMER
(18)
MERIT
(18)
MET
(18)
REMIT
(18)
TIER
(18)
MITRE
(18)
MET
(18)
MITRE
(18)
MITRE
(18)
TIMER
(18)
RITE
(18)
MET
(18)
MITRE
(18)
MITRE
(18)
MITER
(18)
RIM
(18)
TIRE
(18)
REMIT
(18)
MITER
(18)
MITER
(18)
REMIT
(18)
RITE
(18)
REMIT
(18)
TIRE
(18)
TIMER
(18)
REMIT
(18)
RIM
(18)
REMIT
(18)
MITER
(18)
MERIT
(18)
MITE
(17)
TIME
(17)
EMIR
(17)
RIME
(17)
MITRE
(17)
EMIT
(17)
ITEM
(17)
TRIM
(17)
MITER
(17)
TERM
(17)
MIRE
(17)
MERIT
(17)
MITER
(16)
MITER
(16)
MITRE
(16)
MITE
(16)
MITER
(16)
MITER
(16)
EMIT
(16)
MIRE
(16)
TRIM
(16)
MITRE
(16)
RIME
(16)
MITER
(16)
EMIT
(16)
MITRE
(16)
TERM
(16)
MITRE
(16)
RIME
(16)
TIMER
(16)
TIMER
(16)
EMIR
(16)
ITEM
(16)
TIME
(16)
REMIT
(16)
MERIT
(16)
MERIT
(16)
REMIT
(16)
REMIT
(16)
MERIT
(16)
TIMER
(16)
REMIT
(16)
REMIT
(16)
RIM
(16)
TIMER
(16)
MERIT
(16)
MERIT
(16)
MITRE
(16)
TIMER
(16)

Word Growth involving merit

Shorter words in merit

it

me

Longer words containing merit

conglomeritic

demerit demerited

demerit demeriting

demerit demerits

emeritus

karyomerite karyomerites

merited demerited

merited unmerited

meriting demeriting

meritmongered

meritmongerer meritmongerers

meritmongeries

meritmongers

meritocracy

meritorious nonmeritorious

meritorious unmeritorious

merits demerits