mercy (n.)

  1. leniency and compassion shown toward offenders by a person or agency charged with administering justice; he threw himself on the mercy of the court

    [ Syn: clemency , mercifulness ]

  2. a disposition to be kind and forgiving; in those days a wife had to depend on the mercifulness of her husband

    [ Syn: mercifulness ]

  3. the feeling that motivates compassion

    [ Syn: mercifulness ]

  4. something for which to be thankful; it was a mercy we got out alive'

  5. alleviation of distress; showing great kindness toward the distressed; distributing food and clothing to the flood victims was an act of mercy'

The dictionary is based on the WordNet Electronic Lexical Database.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2011 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.