noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   The state of being merciful; mercy.
2. 2
   leniency and compassion shown toward offenders by a person or agency charged with administering justice wordnet
3. 3
   a disposition to be kind and forgiving wordnet
4. 4
   the feeling that motivates compassion wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

clemencyacceptancebleeding heartbowels of compassionclemencyclementness

Antonyms

All antonyms

mercilessness

Etymology

From Middle English mercyfulnes, mercyfullenesse, equivalent to merciful + -ness.

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