Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
on its merits

on its merits

4 6.2
People judge a thing by its own facts and qualities, not by reputation
  • idiom
  • Formal
translation icon : por sus méritos
  • Argue for or against something based on its merits, not based on its origins.
  • case on its merits
  • debating the issue on its merits
  • individual case on its merits

So like, you release an album, you do your best, you hope that people like it and judge it on its merits.

Examples

  • "Students, advisers, and administrators need to consider many aspects of a graduate program in deciding on its merits or defects," she observed.

    Academic text (1995)

  • There are those of us who do try to approach a film on its merits.

    Blog text (22)

  • Let them play it like that; let them judge it based on its merits as that game...

    Blog text (22)

  • None of these steps is defensible on its merits.

    Academic text (2002)

  • The Bible and the philosophy it contains must be judged on its merits, not on its origins.

    Blog text (20)

  • Hopefully, in the long run, these feelings fade away and people buy a product on its merits.

    Blog text (32)

  • Instead, this expanded initiative ought to be evaluated directly on its merits.

    Academic text (2005)

  • You could evaluate the answer on its merits or the rigor of the thinking.

    Blog text (21)

  • Annabelle Jocelyn was her own person and judged the world on its merits.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • You should judge the proposal on its merits rather than just on the background of the author.

Antonyms

biased
91 4.0

Showing unfair favor to one person, group, or side

to prejudge
11 6.7

To form an opinion about a person or situation before you know all the facts

How Impartial

impartial
74 4.2
on its merits
  • Formal
4 6.2
biased
91 4.0

Surface Forms

on its merits positive

Morphology

on + its + merit

The meaning is directly compositional: 'on' marks basis, 'its' indicates possession, and 'merits' names the qualities warranting judgment, so the phrase literally means 'judged based on its own qualities.' This 'on + noun' pattern meaning 'based on' is common in English and cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents should be able to infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

On its merits comes from old courtrooms where a judge looked only at a case's real merits, its facts and good points, not at a person's name or other outside things. So saying something will be judged on its merits means it will be 'considered by its own qualities and facts'.