as in patient
showing kindness and forgiveness instead of harshness or cruelty especially to someone under one's authority or control
When our English teacher caught us cheating, we prayed he would be merciful in deciding our punishment.
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Recent Examples of merciful
Some are kept affordable by other government subsidies, by merciful landlords or by states, including California, Colorado and New York, that have worked to keep them low-cost by relying on several levers.
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Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 6 Oct. 2024
Campaigning for this surprise snap election lasted just a merciful six weeks.
—William
booth, Washington Post, 4 July 2024
Listen to this article PHILADELPHIA — The Nets’ season came to a merciful end with Sunday’s 107-86 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center.
—C.j. Holmes, New York Daily News, 14 Apr. 2024
White, head of the women’s branch of the Pennsylvania SPCA, led the campaign to develop merciful ways of killing strays.
—Barbara Spindel, The Christian Science Monitor, 11 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for merciful 
Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 6 Oct. 2024
Campaigning for this surprise snap election lasted just a merciful six weeks.
—William
booth, Washington Post, 4 July 2024
Listen to this article PHILADELPHIA — The Nets’ season came to a merciful end with Sunday’s 107-86 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center.
—C.j. Holmes, New York Daily News, 14 Apr. 2024
White, head of the women’s branch of the Pennsylvania SPCA, led the campaign to develop merciful ways of killing strays.
—Barbara Spindel, The Christian Science Monitor, 11 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for merciful
Recent Examples of Synonyms for merciful
Adjective
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While this impact may take time to filter through the market, for patient investors who understand the current opportunities in undervalued bottles and casks, this more measured market environment could prove advantageous.Mark Littler, Forbes, 23 Dec. 2024
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Be patient with yourself and keep your eyes on the prize!Kyle Thomas, People.com, 22 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Ensure that organizational leadership has a deep understanding of sexism—both hostile and benevolent—and genderwashing.Susan Madsen, Forbes, 17 Dec. 2024
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Online course listings enable faculty, students, and administrators to see which classes fill up the fastest and, by implication, which professors are perceived as benevolent and easygoing.Jessica Winter, The New Yorker, 3 Sep. 2024
Adjective
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The Power Of Radical Self-Awareness Reinvention begins with an honest, compassionate self-examination.Mark Protus, Forbes, 2 Jan. 2025
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Deputy Paul Martin was beloved by his colleagues and known for his compassionate nature, Schwarz said.George Monastiriakos, Newsweek, 31 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Some were sympathetic to WBD’s argument that art should be separated from politics.Jake Kanter, Deadline, 19 Dec. 2024
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Likes, shares, and sympathetic comments lend a veneer of credibility to content that is, at its core, shallow or outright false.Luis E. Romero, Forbes, 18 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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The outward-facing woman was self-effacing and gracious and vivacious, a compassionate listener.Rachel Aviv, The New Yorker, 23 Dec. 2024
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Your guests will likely be too gracious and too full of delicious things to even notice if a rogue dust bunny tried to crash the holiday.Barbara Bellesi Zito, Southern Living, 22 Nov. 2024
Adjective
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Earlier this month the singer was spotted cheering on her beau with her parents, Andrea and Scott Swift, and was praised for her kind interaction with fans.Gord Magill, Newsweek, 21 Dec. 2024
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During this stressful season, Melissa asks people to be kind.Kiara Alfonseca, ABC News, 20 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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In his fourth feature, director Hsiao Ya-Chuan follows the unsentimental education of a motherless 11-year-old boy, Liao Jie (Bai Run-yin), raised in poverty by his kindly father, Liao Tai-lai (Liu Kuan-Ting), a waiter at a busy banqueting hall.Alissa Simon, Variety, 25 Nov. 2024
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In 2016 in California, Hindu-nationalist groups claimed that sixth-grade textbooks were biased against Hindus and demanded they be revised to give a kindlier depiction of the caste system, and to downplay the role of patriarchy in India.Andrew Cockburn, Harper's Magazine, 20 Aug. 2024
Adjective
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Cocker’s lessons covered addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, as well as calculation with pre-decimal British currency and a gentle introduction to 17th-century England’s bamboozling array of weights and measures.James Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 19 Dec. 2024
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Of course, gentle hydrators like aloe vera and crystalline coconut are also featured for conditioning benefits.Kiana Murden, Vogue, 19 Dec. 2024
Thesaurus Entries Near merciful
Cite this Entry
“Merciful.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/merciful. Accessed 7 Jan. 2025.
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