merit

A claim to commendation or a reward.countable

• [R]eputation is an idle and moſt falſe impoſition , oft got without merit and loſt without deſeruing.

A mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence.countable

• For her good performance in the examination, her teacher gave her ten merits.

Something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward.countableuncountable

• His reward for his merit was a check for $50.

The sum of all the good deeds that a person does which determines the quality of the person's next state of existence and contributes to the person's growth towards enlightenment.Jainismuncountable

• to acquire or make merit

Usually in the plural form the merits: the substantive rightness or wrongness of a legal argument, a lawsuit, etc., as opposed to technical matters such as the admissibility of evidence or points of legal procedure; (by extension) the overall good or bad quality, or rightness or wrongness, of some ouncountable

• Even though the plaintiff was ordered by the judge to pay some costs for not having followed the correct procedure, she won the case on the merits.

The quality or state of deserving retribution, whether reward or punishment.countableobsolete

• Be it known, that we the greateſt are mis-thoght / For things that others do : and when we fall, / We anſwer others merits, in our name / Are therefore to be pittied.

To deserve, to earn.transitive

• Her performance merited wild applause.

To be deserving or worthy.intransitive

• They were punished as they merited.

To reward.obsoleteraretransitive

• Thus charg’d thy sire, which thou forgett’st: yet now those thoughts appease / That torture thy great spirit with wrath; which if thou wilt give surcease, / The king will merit it with gifts ; and if thou wilt give ear / I’ll tell you how m