Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Full of mercy; compassionate.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Possessing the attribute of mercy; exercising forbearance or pity; not revengeful or cruel; clement; compassionate; gracious.
- Charaoterized by mercy; manifesting clemency or compassion; giving relief from danger, need, or suffering.
- Synonyms Humane, Merciful (see
humane ), lenient, mild, tender-hearted.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Full of mercy; having or exercising mercy; disposed to pity and spare offenders; unwilling to punish. Opposite of
merciless . - adjective Unwilling to give pain; compassionate.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective showing
mercy
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective showing or giving mercy
- adjective (used conventionally of royalty and high nobility) gracious
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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All my life I have heard him called merciful because he did not burn her as was his right!
Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer Lucy Weston 2011
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All my life I have heard him called merciful because he did not burn her as was his right!
Secret History of Elizabeth Tudor, Vampire Slayer Lucy Weston 2011
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With a far better place we could go to - how merciful is it to require those He could have taken to remain here in this world of “pointless suffering”, when they could already be in that far, far better place freed of it?
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The Rabbis are lavish in their praise of Rachel, whom they describe as merciful, and who waived her personal benefit and desires on behalf of her sister.
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God had promised them they had no zeal against the wicked inhabitants whom the Lord commanded them to extirpate, pretending pity; but so merciful is God that no man needs to be in any case more compassionate than he.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume III (Job to Song of Solomon) 1721
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In this word, Blessed are the merciful, is included that saying of Christ, which otherwise we find not in the gospels, It is more blessed to give than to receive, Acts xx.
Commentary on the Whole Bible Volume V (Matthew to John) 1721
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"My beloved father, am not I thy daughter Mercy? and art not thou called merciful?
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You have been always called a merciful man, partner.
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It is affirmed, without any show of reason, that mercy in God is not infinite, because sometimes he exerciseth severity; that is, that God cannot be called merciful, if he punish any guilty and impenitent sinners.
A Dissertation on Divine Justice 1616-1683 1967
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W.A. - He is merciful, that is all we can say for it; and this proves Him to be the true God; He is God, and not man, and therefore we are not consumed.
The Further Adventures Of Robinson Crusoe Defoe, Daniel, 1661?-1731. Robinson Crusoe 1958
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