Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A quality or characteristic deserving of blame or censure; a fault.
- noun Absence of merit.
- noun A mark made against one's record for a fault or for misconduct.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To lower the merit of; discredit; depreciate.
- To deserve; merit; earn.
- To deserve to lose from lack of merit or desert.
- To be deserving; deserve.
- noun That which one merits; desert.
- noun That which merits ill; censurable conduct; wrong-doing; ill desert: opposed to merit.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb obsolete To deserve; -- said in reference to both praise and blame.
- transitive verb rare To depreciate or cry down.
- noun obsolete That which one merits or deserves, either of good or ill; desert.
- noun That which deserves blame; ill desert; a fault; a vice; misconduct; -- the opposite of
merit . - noun The state of one who deserves ill.
- intransitive verb To deserve praise or blame.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A quality of being
inadequate ; afault ; adisadvantage - noun A mark given for bad conduct to a person attending an educational institution or serving in the army.
- verb transitive, archaic To
deserve .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the quality of being inadequate or falling short of perfection
- noun a mark against a person for misconduct or failure; usually given in school or armed forces
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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I never thought of this business of merit and demerit, which is able to change our lives in the twinkling of an eye, and which actually brought me down to a pretty low estate.
Asian-Pacific Folktales and Legends Jeannette L. Faurot 1995
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That which intimately comprises the nature of repentance is, sorrow on account of sin committed, and of its demerit, which is so much the deeper, as the acknowledgment of sin is clearer, and more copious.
The Works of James Arminius, Vol. 2 1560-1609 1956
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But what had disturbed Jill even more than the demerit was the failure of the colleague present at her belittlement to speak a single word in her defense.
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But what had disturbed Jill even more than the demerit was the failure of the colleague present at her belittlement to speak a single word in her defense.
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She told her managers she needed to go home because she was contagious, but Walmart informed her that she would get a "demerit" if she worked less than four hours.
Walmart's Sick Day Policy Hurts Workers, Families, and Customers 2010
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She told her managers she needed to go home because she was contagious, but Walmart informed her that she would get a "demerit" if she worked less than four hours.
Taylor Leake: Walmart's Sick Day Policy Hurts Workers, Families, and Customers 2010
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LOTHIAN: Ayers doesn't think their casual connection should be a-- quote -- "demerit" on Obama's record.
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LOTHIAN: Ayers doesn't think their casual connection should be a-- quote -- "demerit" on Obama's record.
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"everlasting fire of hell" can only have been intended from all eternity for sin and demerit, that is, for neglect of Christian charity, in the same sense in which it is inflicted in time.
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 12: Philip II-Reuss 1840-1916 1913
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She told her managers she needed to go home because she was contagious, but Walmart informed her that she would get a "demerit" if she worked less than 4 hours.
The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com Taylor Leake 2010
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