demerit
/dɪˈmɛɹɪt/ noun, verb
Forms demerits demeriting demerited
- noun A quality of being inadequate; a disadvantage, a fault.
- noun A mark given for bad conduct to a person attending an educational institution or serving in the army.
- noun That which one merits or deserves, either of good or ill; desert.
- verb To deserve.
- verb To depreciate or cry down.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English demerit, demerite, from Old French desmerite (modern French démérite) and its etymon Latin dēmeritum. By surface analysis, de- + merit.
From Latin dēmerit-, the past partipicial stem of dēmereō. By surface analysis, de- + merit.
Webster’s 1913
- noun That which one merits or deserves, either of good or ill; desert.
- noun That which deserves blame; ill desert; a fault; a vice; misconduct; --the opposite of Ant: merit.
- verb To deserve; --said in reference to both praise and blame. [Obs.]
- verb To depreciate or cry down. [R.] Bp. Woolton.
Etymology [F. démérite demerit (in sense 2), OF. demerite demerit (in sense 1), fr. L. demerere to deserve well, LL., to deserve well or ill; de- + merere to deserve. See De-, and Merit.]
Etymology [Cf. F. démériter to deserve ill. See Demerit, n.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “demerit”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details