Mercy

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: Mer=cy

CIDE DICTIONARY

Mercy, n. [OE. merci, F. merci, L. merces, mercedis, hire, pay, reward, LL., equiv. to misericordia pity, mercy. L. merces is probably akin to merere to deserve, acquire. See Merit, and cf. Amerce.].

•  Forbearance to inflict harm under circumstances of provocation, when one has the power to inflict it; compassionate treatment of an offender or adversary; clemency.  [1913 Webster]

  "Examples of justice must be made for terror to some; examples of mercy for comfort to others."  [1913 Webster]
•  Compassionate treatment of the unfortunate and helpless; sometimes, favor, beneficence.  Luke x. 37.  [1913 Webster]
•  Disposition to exercise compassion or favor; pity; compassion; willingness to spare or to help.  [1913 Webster]

  "In whom mercy lacketh and is not founden."  [1913 Webster]
•  A blessing regarded as a manifestation of compassion or favor.  [1913 Webster]

  "The Father of mercies and the God of all comfort."  [1913 Webster]

Mercy seat (Bib.), the golden cover or lid of the Ark of the Covenant. See Ark, 2. -- Sisters of Mercy (R. C. Ch.),a religious order founded in Dublin in the year 1827. Communities of the same name have since been established in various American cities. The duties of those belonging to the order are, to attend lying-in hospitals, to superintend the education of girls, and protect decent women out of employment, to visit prisoners and the sick, and to attend persons condemned to death. -- To be at the mercy of, to be wholly in the power of.

Syn. -- See Grace.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Mercy, n. & int.
--n. (pl. -ies)
1 compassion or forbearance shown to enemies or offenders in one's power.
2 the quality of compassion.
3 an act of mercy.
4 (attrib.) administered or performed out of mercy or pity for a suffering person (mercy killing).
5 something to be thankful for (small mercies).
--int. expressing surprise or fear.

Idiom

at the mercy of
1 wholly in the power of.
2 liable to danger or harm from. have mercy on (or upon) show mercy to. mercy flight the transporting by air of an injured or sick person from a remote area to a hospital.

Etymology

ME f. OF merci f. L merces -edis reward, in LL pity, thanks

DEVIL DICTIONARY

Mercy

n. An attribute beloved of detected offenders.

THESAURUS

Mercy

acceptance, act of grace, act of kindness, benefaction, beneficence, benefit, benevolence, benignancy, benignity, blessing, caritas, charity, clemency, clementness, commiseration, compassion, condolence, consideration, courtesy, easiness, easygoingness, favor, feeling, forbearance, forbearing, forgiveness, generosity, gentleness, good deed, good offices, good turn, goodwill, grace, graciousness, humaneness, humanity, indulgence, kind deed, kind offices, kindliness, kindly act, kindness, labor of love, laxness, lenience, leniency, lenientness, lenity, liberality, magnanimity, mercifulness, mildness, mitigation, mitzvah, moderateness, obligation, office, pardon, pathos, patience, pity, quarter, relief, reprieve, ruth, self-pity, service, softness, sympathy, tenderness, thoughtfulness, tolerance, turn

ROGET THESAURUS

Mercy

Lenity

N lenity, lenience, leniency, moderation, tolerance, toleration, mildness, gentleness, favor, indulgence, indulgency, clemency, mercy, forbearance, quarter, compassion, lenient, mild, mild as milk, gentle, soft, tolerant, indulgent, easy-going, clement, forbearing, long-suffering.

Benevolence

N benevolence, Christian charity, God's love, God's grace, good will, philanthropy, unselfishness, good nature, good feeling, good wishes, kindness, kindliness, loving-kindness, benignity, brotherly love, charity, humanity, fellow-feeling, sympathy, goodness of heart, warmth of heart, bonhomie, kind-heartedness, amiability, milk of human kindness, tenderness, love, friendship, toleration, consideration, generosity, mercy, charitableness, bounty, almsgiving, good works, beneficence, the luxury of doing good, acts of kindness, a good turn, good offices, kind offices good treatment, kind treatment, good Samaritan, sympathizer, bon enfant, altruist, benevolent, kind, kindly, well-meaning, amiable, obliging, accommodating, indulgent, gracious, complacent, good-humored, warm-hearted, kind-hearted, tender-hearted, large-hearted, broad- hearted, merciful, charitable, beneficent, humane, benignant, bounteous, bountiful, good-natured, well-natured, spleenless, sympathizing, sympathetic, complaisant, well-meant, well-intentioned, fatherly, motherly, brotherly, sisterly, paternal, maternal, fraternal, sororal, friendly, with a good intention, with the best intentions, Int, Godspeed!, much good may it do!, act a charity sometimes, a tender heart, a will inflexible, de mortuis nil nisi bonum, say only good things about the dead, don't speak ill of the dead, kind words are more than coronets, quando amigo pide no hay manana, the social smile, the sympathetic tear.

Pity

N pity, compassion, commiseration, bowels, of compassion, sympathy, fellow-feeling, tenderness, yearning, forbearance, humanity, mercy, clemency, leniency, charity, ruth, long- suffering, melting mood, argumentum ad misericordiam, quarter, grace, locus paenitentiae, sympathizer, advocate, friend, partisan, patron, wellwisher, pitying, pitiful, compassionate, sympathetic, touched, merciful, clement, ruthful, humane, humanitarian, tender, tender hearted, tender as a chicken, soft, soft hearted, unhardened, lenient, exorable, forbearing, melting, weak, Int, for pity's sake!, mercy!, have mercy!, cry you mercy!, God help you!, poor thing!, poor dear!, poor fellow!, woe betide!, quis talia fando temperet a lachrymiss!, one's heart bleeding for, haud ignara mali miseris succurrere disco, a fellow feeling makes one wondrous kind, onor di bocca assai giova e poco costa.