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merciful

merciful

54 3.3
Kind and willing to forgive someone who is suffering or has done wrong
  • adjective
  • /ˈmɜːrsɪfəl/
translation icon : misericordioso
  • The compassionate, the merciful!
  • merciful God
  • merciful Father
  • a merciful end

So he says we have to be merciful to our debtors.

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Examples

  • So he says we have to be merciful to our debtors.

  • It's important to be merciful towards those who have made mistakes and need support to improve.

  • I hope he is more merciful... than I am.

  • The King is more merciful than you.

  • God is merciful, you know it.

  • That God tries his best to be merciful and to spare as many as possible.

  • According to Islam, God is the most compassionate, the most merciful, the Creator of the heavens and the earth.

  • Verily, God is forgiving, merciful--

  • If so, I beg you, almighty God, to please be merciful in the suffering you inflict on your creature.

    Fiction book (1999)
  • The judge was merciful and decided to give the defendant a second chance instead of a prison sentence.

Synonyms

compassionate
vsmerciful
151 3.7

Feeling concern and care for people who suffer

adds active forgiveness and willingness to spare punishment to that feeling
humane
vsmerciful
90 3.4

Showing kindness and care to people or animals to avoid suffering

also implies forgiving wrongdoers and sparing them from harm
forgiving
vsmerciful
64 3.1

Ready to stop feeling angry after someone hurts you

is broader, also spares harm and shows compassion
magnanimous
vsmerciful
  • Formal
16 8.0

Being kind and generous when forgiving people who hurt you

focuses more on simple kindness and sparing punishment than nobility
kindly
vsmerciful
11 1.0

Being gentle and caring to other people

adds a readiness to forgive and to spare harm beyond general kindness
clement
vsmerciful
9.1

Ready to forgive people and give lighter punishments

is kinder, stressing mercy and readiness to spare harm

Antonyms

522 2.7

Willing to cause pain or suffering to others

33 5.3

Showing no pity and treating people in a cruel way

How Merciful

forgiving
64 3.1
merciful
54 3.3
compassionate
151 3.7
kind
534 1.0

Surface Forms

merciful positive

Morphology

merciful = mercy (transparent) = mercy + ful

Formed by the productive adjective-forming suffix '-ful' added to 'mercy' meaning 'full of mercy' so the meaning is directly predictable.

Etymology

The word merciful comes from the common word mercy, which means 'pity' or 'kindness' for someone who is suffering or has done wrong. So to be merciful is to show that kindness and to spare someone from harm or punishment.