merciful

3 definitions found

merciful - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Merciful \Mer"ci*ful\, a. [Mercy + -ful.]
     1. Full of mercy; having or exercising mercy; disposed to
        pity and spare offenders; unwilling to punish. Opposite of
        merciless.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. --Ex.
                                                    xxxiv. 6.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Be merciful, great duke, to men of mold. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Unwilling to give pain; compassionate.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              A merciful man will be merciful to his beast. --Old
                                                    Proverb.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Compassionate; tender; humane; gracious; kind; mild;
          clement; benignant.
          [1913 Webster] -- Mer"ci*ful*ly, adv. --
          Mer"ci*ful*ness, n.
          [1913 Webster]

merciful - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  merciful
      adj 1: showing or giving mercy; "sought merciful treatment for
             the captives"; "a merciful god" [ant: merciless,
             unmerciful]
      2: (used conventionally of royalty and high nobility) gracious;
         "our merciful king"

merciful - Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 :

  92 Moby Thesaurus words for "merciful":
     accepting, all-knowing, all-powerful, all-seeing, all-wise,
     almighty, beneficent, benign, benignant, big, bleeding, boundless,
     changeless, charitable, clement, commiserative, compassionate,
     condolent, considerate, creating, creative, easy, easygoing,
     eternal, eternally the same, everlasting, forbearant, forbearing,
     forgiving, generous, gentle, glorious, good, gracious, hallowed,
     highest, holy, human, humane, immortal, immutable, indulgent,
     infinite, just, kind, kindly, lax, lenient, liberal, limitless,
     loving, luminous, magnanimous, majestic, making, melting, mild,
     moderate, numinous, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, one,
     patient, permanent, perpetual, pitiful, pitying, radiant, ruth,
     ruthful, sacred, shaping, soft, softhearted, sovereign, sparing,
     supreme, sympathetic, sympathizing, tender, tenderhearted,
     thoughtful, timeless, tolerant, ubiquitous, unbounded, unchanging,
     undefined, understanding, unlimited, warmhearted