noun ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The quality of mercy or forgiveness, especially in the assignment of punishment as in a court case. countable, uncountable

   "The convicted felon asked for leniency, but because the crime was so heinous the judge refused and gave the maximum sentence."

2. 2
   lightening a penalty or excusing from a chore by judges or parents or teachers wordnet
3. 3
   An act of being lenient. countable, uncountable
4. 4
   a disposition to yield to the wishes of someone wordnet
5. 5
   mercifulness as a consequence of being lenient or tolerant wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

indulgencelenienceabatementacceptanceaccommodatingnessagreeableness

Example

More examples

"Sami begged the judge for leniency."

Etymology

From lenient + -ency.

Related phrases

Leniency NoticeLeniency Programleniency applicantleniency applicationleniency policy

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.