Meaning & use
meritorious
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Worthy of praise or reward because of real quality, effort or achievement.
Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: meritorious service. It can follow a linking verb: her work was meritorious.
Patterns
- meritorious service
- meritorious work
- meritorious of something
The soldier received a medal for meritorious service in the field.
Her meritorious research earned the university a major grant.
The committee judged every one of the essays meritorious.
adjectivebefore a nounlegal
In law, having enough substance or strength to deserve a hearing or to be likely to succeed.
Grammar: Used mainly of claims, defenses or arguments: a meritorious claim.
Patterns
- a meritorious claim
- a meritorious defense
The judge refused to dismiss the case because the claim appeared meritorious.
Only a meritorious appeal will be sent to the higher court.
The lawyer argued that her client had a meritorious defense.
Common combinations
- meritorious service
- He was honored for thirty years of meritorious service.
- meritorious achievement
- The prize recognizes meritorious achievement in teaching.
- meritorious conduct
- The captain praised the crew for meritorious conduct during the storm.
- meritorious claim
- The court agreed the claim was meritorious.
- highly meritorious
- The panel found the project highly meritorious.
Synonyms and how they differ
- praiseworthy
- Praiseworthy is plainer and works in everyday talk, while meritorious sounds official and fits citations and awards.
- commendable
- Commendable stresses that something deserves approval, whereas meritorious suggests it has earned a formal reward or recognition.
- deserving
- Deserving is often used of a person who needs or earns help, but meritorious more often describes the work or deed itself.
- admirable
- Admirable expresses personal respect and can describe character, while meritorious is tied to measurable achievement.
Opposites
Word family
- merit noun
- the quality of deserving praise or reward
- merit verb
- to deserve something
- meritocracy noun
- a system in which people advance by ability and achievement
- meritoriously adverb
- in a way that deserves praise
Commonly confused: meritorious or meticulous?
meritorious vs meticulous
Meticulous means very careful about detail; it is not about deserving a reward, though both are formal words starting with the same letters.
Practice
The sergeant was awarded a medal for ______ service during the flood rescue.
Choose one answer.
Meritorious service is service that deserves honor. Meticulous means very careful, so it does not fit a medal citation as well, and mediocre would be an insult.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “meritorious”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.