| n. | 1. | Forbearance to inflict harm under circumstances of provocation, when one has the power to inflict it; compassionate treatment of an offender or adversary; clemency. | |||||||||
| 2. | Compassionate treatment of the unfortunate and helpless; sometimes, favor, beneficence. | ||||||||||
| 3. | Disposition to exercise compassion or favor; pity; compassion; willingness to spare or to help. | ||||||||||
| 4. | A blessing regarded as a manifestation of compassion or favor.
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| Noun | 1. | mercy - leniency and compassion shown toward offenders by a person or agency charged with administering justice; "he threw himself on the mercy of the court" Synonyms: clemency, mercifulness |
| 2. | mercy - a disposition to be kind and forgiving; "in those days a wife had to depend on the mercifulness of her husband" Synonyms: mercifulness | |
| 3. | mercy - the feeling that motivates compassion Synonyms: mercifulness | |
| 4. | mercy - something for which to be thankful; "it was a mercy we got out alive" | |
| 5. | mercy - alleviation of distress; showing great kindness toward the distressed; "distributing food and clothing to the flood victims was an act of mercy" |
MERCY, Practice. To be in mercy, signifies to be liable to punishment at the discretion of the judge.
MERCY, crim. law. The total or partial remission of a punishment to which a convict is subject. When the whole punishment is remitted, it is called a pardon; (q.v.) when only a part of the punishment is remitted, it is frequently a conditional pardon; or before sentence, it is called clemency or mercy. Vide Rutherf. Inst. 224; 1 Kent, Com. 265; 3 Story, Const. Sec. 1488.
acceptance, act of grace, act of kindness, benefaction, beneficence, benefit, benevolence, benignancy, benignity, blessing, caritas, clementness, commiseration, compassion, condolence, courtesy, easiness, easygoingness, favor, feeling, forbearance, forbearing, generosity, gentleness, good deed, good offices, good turn, goodwill, graciousness, humaneness, humanity, indulgence, kind deed, kind offices, kindliness, kindly act, labor of love, laxness, lenience, lenientness, lenity, liberality, magnanimity, mercifulness, mitigation, mitzvah, moderateness, obligation, office, pardon, pathos, patience, quarter, relief, reprieve, ruth, self-pity, service, softness, tenderness, thoughtfulness, tolerance, turn