Synonyms for mercy
ˈmɜr simer·cy

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. mercy

   Mercy is the exercise of less severity than one deserves, or in a more extended sense, the granting of kindness or favor beyond what one may rightly claim. Grace is favor, kindness, or blessing shown to the undeserving; forgiveness, mercy, and pardon are exercised toward the ill-deserving. Pardon remits the outward penalty which the offender deserves; forgiveness dismisses resentment or displeasure from the heart of the one offended; mercy seeks the highest possible good of the offender. There may be mercy without pardon, as in the mitigation of sentence, or in all possible alleviation of necessary severity; there may be cases where pardon would not be mercy, since it would encourage to repetition of the offense, from which timely punishment might have saved. Mercy is also used in the wider sense of refraining from harshness or cruelty toward those who are in one's power without fault of their own; as, they besought the robber to have mercy. Clemency is a colder word than mercy, and without its religious associations, signifying mildness and moderation in the use of power where severity would have legal or military, rather than moral sanction; it often denotes a habitual mildness of disposition on the part of the powerful, and is matter rather of good nature or policy than of principle. Leniency or lenity denotes an easy-going avoidance of severity; these words are more general and less magisterial than clemency; we should speak of the leniency of a parent, the clemency of a conqueror. Compare PITY.

   Synonyms:
   benevolence, benignity, blessing, clemency, compassion, favor, forbearance, forgiveness, gentleness, grace, kindness, lenience, leniency, lenity, mildness, pardon, pardon, pity, tenderness

   Antonyms:
   cruelty, hardness, harshness, implacability, justice, penalty, punishment, revenge, rigor, severity, sternness, vengeance

   Preposition:
   The mercy of God to or toward sinners; have mercy on or upon one.

Complete Dictionary of Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:4.5 / 2 votes

1. mercy

   Synonyms:
   compassion, clemency, forgiveness, forbearance, grace, benefit, gift, pity, leniency, tenderness

   Antonyms:
   exaction, harshness, cruelty, vengeance, unpityingness, unforgiveness

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. clemency, mercifulness, mercynoun

   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:
   mildness, clemency, mercifulness

2. mercifulness, mercynoun

   a disposition to be kind and forgiving

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

   Synonyms:
   clemency, mercifulness

3. mercifulness, mercynoun

   the feeling that motivates compassion

   Synonyms:
   clemency, mercifulness

4. mercynoun

   something for which to be thankful

   "it was a mercy we got out alive"

   Synonyms:
   clemency, mercifulness

5. mercynoun

   alleviation of distress; showing great kindness toward the distressed

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

   Synonyms:
   clemency, mercifulness

Matched Categories

1. • Blessing
   • Compassion
   • Humaneness
   • Leniency
   • Relief

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:1.0 / 1 vote

1. mercynoun

   Synonyms:
   clemency, lenity, lenience, leniency, compassion, pity, tenderness, kindness, mildness, gentleness

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. mercynoun

   Synonyms:
   clemency, pity, lenity, leniency, lenience, compassion, forgiveness, placability, discretion, disposal, blessing, favor

   Antonyms:
   revenge, implacability, inclemency, incompassion

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:1.0 / 1 vote

1. List of paraphrases for "mercy":

   clemency, misericordia, pity, leniency, clemencia, compassion, clémence, rahmah, grace, merciful, rahma, thanks, please, pardon, gracia, piety, rahim

Suggested Resources

1. mercy

   Song lyrics by mercy -- Explore a large variety of song lyrics performed by mercy on the Lyrics.com website.

How to pronounce mercy?

How to say mercy in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency

How to use mercy in a sentence?

1. Pope Francis:

   The people who had the responsibility to take care of these tender ones violated that trust and caused them great pain, those who have survived this abuse have become true heralds of mercy. Humbly we owe each of them our gratitude for their great value, as they have had to suffer terrible abuse, sexual abuse of minors.

2. France Adel Kermiche:

   I'm a Muslim who believes in mercy, in doing good, I'm not an extremist, i want to get back my life, see my friends, get married.

3. Albert Camus:

   What then is capital punishment but the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal's deed, however calculated it may be, can be compared For there to be an equivalence, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal, who had warned his victim of the date at which he would inflict a horrible death on him, and who from that moment onward had confined him at his mercy for months. Such a monster is not encountered in private life.

4. Trinity Health:

   Mercy Fitzgerald nurses will vote on whether to ratify this agreement on November 12, we remain fully committed to negotiating in good faith with the union leaders that represent the nurses at St Mary in the spirit of obtaining a fair, consistent and sustainable agreement for our St. Mary nurses as well. We are finalizing our contingency plans to ensure we can continue to serve our communities with safe, high-quality care and minimize disruptions for those we serve. We do not anticipate any interruptions of services at this point. We will keep our community informed as we move forward.

5. Defense Secretary Mark Esper:

   Many of those ventilators deployed with the USNS Comfort and Mercy in New York and( Los Angeles), respectively. They are with our field hospitals. We have several field hospitals deployed in New York, in Seattle, in New Orleans and Dallas. And then we provided several hundred more that are pre-positioned and ready to go, particularly with regard to New York City when they're needed.