adj ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Adjective

1. 1
   Showing mercy.

   "`Listen, Holly. Thou art a good and honest man, and I fain would spare thee; but, oh! it is so hard for woman to be merciful.'"

Adjective

1. 1
   (used conventionally of royalty and high nobility) gracious wordnet
2. 2
   showing or giving mercy wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

graciousruthfulacceptingall powerfulall seeingall-knowing

Antonyms

All antonyms

cruelmercilessunmerciful

Example

More examples

"In the name of God, The most Gracious, The most Merciful."

Etymology

From Middle English merciful, mercyful, equivalent to mercy + -ful. Displaced native Old English mildheort.

Related phrases

merciful heavens

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