I. mer ‧ it 1 /ˈmerət, ˈmerɪt/ BrE AmE noun
[ Date: 1100-1200 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: merite , from Latin meritum , from merere 'to deserve, earn' ]
1 . [countable] an advantage or good feature of something
merit of
The film has the merit of being short.
The merit of the report is its realistic assessment of the changes required.
The great merit of the project is its flexibility and low cost.
Each of these approaches to teaching has its merits.
Tonight’s meeting will weigh up the relative merits of the two candidates.
REGISTER
Merit is used especially in formal contexts. In everyday English, people usually talk about the good points of something:
▪
The book does have its good points.
2 . [uncountable] formal a good quality that makes someone or something deserve praise:
There is never any merit in being second best.
have (some) merit/be of merit (=be good)
The suggestion has some merit.
on merit
Students are selected solely on merit (=because they are good) .
artistic/literary merit
a film lacking any artistic merit
3 . judge/consider etc something on its (own) merits to judge something only on what you see when you look at it rather than on what you know from other people or things:
It’s important to judge each case on its merits.
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COLLOCATIONS (for Meanings 1 & 2)
■ verbs
▪ have merit
Both suggestions had some merit.
▪ discuss/debate the merits of something (=discuss whether or not something is a good idea)
They were discussing the merits of sending soldiers to the area.
▪ consider/judge the merits of something (=think about whether or not something is a good idea)
The committee is considering the merits of the proposal.
▪ assess/evaluate the merits of something (=to decide what is good about something using careful methods)
Has any study assessed the merits of the two schools?
▪ question the merits of something (=not be sure if something is a good idea)
People began to question the merits of nuclear energy.
▪ see little/no merit in something (=think that something is not a good idea)
I can see no merit in violence.
▪ have its merits (=have some good qualities)
Each idea has its merits.
■ adjectives
▪ artistic merit (=the qualities that make something good as a piece of art)
What are the artistic merits of this statue?
▪ literary merit (=the qualities that make something good as a book, play, or poem)
There was no literary merit in his poems.
▪ great merit
It seems to me that the idea has great merit.
▪ outstanding merit (=very great merit)
The prize is given to students of outstanding merit.
▪ considerable merit (=a lot of merit)
There is considerable merit in using this kind of approach.
▪ the relative/comparative merits of something (=the good qualities of something as compared to something else)
She is an expert in the relative merits of spa waters.
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THESAURUS
▪ advantage a good feature that something has, which makes it better, more useful etc than other things:
The great advantage of digital cameras is that there is no film to process.
▪ benefit a feature of something that has a good effect on people’s lives:
Regular exercise has many benefits, including reducing the risk of heart disease.
▪ merit a good feature that something has, which you consider when you are deciding whether it is the best choice:
The committee will consider the merits of the proposals.
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The merits and demerits of (=the good and bad features of) alternative funding systems were widely discussed in the newspapers.
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The chairman saw no great merit in this suggestion (=he did not think that it was a good idea) .
▪ virtue an advantage that makes you believe that something is a good thing:
They believed in the virtues of culture, civilization, and reason.
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He’s always extolling the virtues of hard work (=saying that hard work is a good thing) .
▪ the good/great/best thing about something especially spoken used when mentioning a good feature of something. This phrase is rather informal and you should not use it in formal essays:
The good thing about cycling is that you don’t have to worry about getting stuck in a traffic jam.
▪ the beauty of something is that used when you want to emphasize that something has a very good or useful feature:
The beauty of the plan is that it is so simple.
II. merit 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive not in progressive] formal
to be good, important, or serious enough for praise or attention SYN deserve :
The results have been encouraging enough to merit further investigation.
It’s a fascinating book which merits attention.