merciful
mer·ci·ful
adjective
1.
- “sought merciful treatment for the captives”
- “a merciful god”
2.
characterized by mercy, and compassion
- “compassionate toward disadvantaged people”
- “kind to animals”
- “a humane judge”
3.
Origin
From Middle English merciful, mercyful, equivalent to mercy + -ful. Displaced native Old English mildheort.
Related words
Word family
See also
WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.