MERCY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does mercy mean? 

• MERCY (noun)
  The noun MERCY has 5 senses:

1. leniency and compassion shown toward offenders by a person or agency charged with administering justice

2. a disposition to be kind and forgiving

3. the feeling that motivates compassion

4. something for which to be thankful

5. alleviation of distress; showing great kindness toward the distressed

  Familiarity information: MERCY used as a noun is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MERCY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Leniency and compassion shown toward offenders by a person or agency charged with administering justice

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

clemency; mercifulness; mercy

Context example:

he threw himself on the mercy of the court

Hypernyms ("mercy" is a kind of...):

lenience; leniency (lightening a penalty or excusing from a chore by judges or parents or teachers)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mercy"):

commutation; re-sentencing ((law) the reduction in severity of a punishment imposed by law)

amnesty; free pardon; pardon (the formal act of liberating someone)

quarter (clemency or mercy shown to a defeated opponent)

reprieve; respite (the act of reprieving; postponing or remitting punishment)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A disposition to be kind and forgiving

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

mercifulness; mercy

Context example:

in those days a wife had to depend on the mercifulness of her husband

Hypernyms ("mercy" is a kind of...):

humaneness (the quality of compassion or consideration for others (people or animals))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mercy"):

compassion; pity (the humane quality of understanding the suffering of others and wanting to do something about it)

forgivingness; kindness (tendency to be kind and forgiving)

lenience; leniency; lenity; mildness (mercifulness as a consequence of being lenient or tolerant)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The feeling that motivates compassion

Classified under:

Nouns denoting feelings and emotions

Synonyms:

mercifulness; mercy

Hypernyms ("mercy" is a kind of...):

compassion; compassionateness (a deep awareness of and sympathy for another's suffering)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "mercy"):

forgiveness (compassionate feelings that support a willingness to forgive)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Something for which to be thankful

Classified under:

Nouns denoting stable states of affairs

Context example:

it was a mercy we got out alive

Hypernyms ("mercy" is a kind of...):

blessing; boon (a desirable state)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Alleviation of distress; showing great kindness toward the distressed

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

distributing food and clothing to the flood victims was an act of mercy

Hypernyms ("mercy" is a kind of...):

ministration; relief; succor; succour (assistance in time of difficulty)

 Context examples 

Thank God for that mercy at all events, though the proving it has been dreadful.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

It was plain that I could look for no help or mercy from Wolf Larsen.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

“A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!”

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He knows that his only hope of mercy is to produce it safe.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mercy did not exist in the primordial life.

(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)

We should have been at her mercy, if she had had any; but she was a remorseless woman, and had none.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

His eyes blazed at you and held you at his mercy.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“Utterson,” said the voice, “for God’s sake, have mercy!”

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

But you—you had him at your mercy.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

For God's mercy, Mr. Hands, that's why.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)