Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Deserving reward or praise; having merit.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- That earns money; hireling.
- Deserving of reward; worthy of praise or honor; possessing merit.
Wiktionary
- adj. deserving of merit or commendation; deserving reward
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Possessing merit; deserving of reward or honor; worthy of recompense; valuable.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. deserving reward or praise
Etymologies
- From Middle English, borrowed between 1375 and 1425 from Latin meritōrius ("earning money"), from meritus, past participle of mereō ("to earn") (Wiktionary)
- Middle English, from Latin meritōrius, earning money, from meritus, past participle of merēre, to earn; see merit. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Buddha, a personal and historical character, 122; repetition of his name meritorious, 235.”
Chips From A German Workshop, Vol. V. Miscellaneous Later Essays
“How bad is it that every time I see the word meritorious I immediately associate it with The Lady’s Tutor?”
Dear Author: Romance Novel Reviews, Industry News, and Commentary » Racism in Publishing » Print
“(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) LEAH HOPE, WLS REPORTER (voice-over): Governor Quinn overhauls the prison early release program known as the meritorious credit program.”
“The FM further stated the Government paid half of the research and development costs of electronics firms that proposed so-called meritorious projects.”
“In regard to this two-fold cause, that is, the meritorious and the material, we are said to be constituted righteous through the obedience of Christ.”
“If this soul prevails over the lower two powers, the man is called meritorious and perfect.”
“What one party calls meritorious, the other denominates flagitious.”
“And will lastly be induced to conceive, that a good education consists in the art of producing such happy hallucinations of ideas, as may be followed by such voluntary exertions, as may be termed meritorious or amiable insanities.”
“But an aftion ever fo right and meritorious, which is only to be periodically performed, at diftaiit intervalsj is lefs burthenfome to cor« rupc iiaturcj than an undeviating attention to fuch fmall, conftant.”
Internet Archive: Thoughts on the Importance of the Manners of the Great to General Society
“All the encomiums bestowed on the ideal of humanity in its moral perfection can lose nothing of their practical reality by the examples of what men now are, have been, or will probably be hereafter; anthropology which proceeds from mere empirical knowledge cannot impair anthroponomy which is erected by the unconditionally legislating reason; and although virtue may now and then be called meritorious (in relation to men, not to the law), and be worthy of reward, yet in itself, as it is its own end, so also it must be regarded as its own reward.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘meritorious’.
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Familiar
Just a list of words
fulminate, unctuous, malediction, lumpenproletariat, descry, surfeit, sententious, supernumerary, unabashed, picayune, obliterate, decry and 110 more...
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WOOZ
Words contained in the screenplay of Wizard of Oz, 1939 film.
Comments show the actual "line" from the film.
The words are tagged for grade-levelpusillanimous, genuflect, cataclysmic, vernacular, peasantry, aver, caliginous, tedious, advent, careworn, bovine, commodity and 34 more...
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List 015
compelling, clandestine, capacious, captivate, amicable, emulate, fetter, frugal, hackneyed, hiatus, inane, jubilant and 13 more...
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MyList
peter out, fraying, jump on the bandw..., indignation, eclectic, hung up, salutary, hoary, warped, glaring, blue-collar, concomitant and 105 more...
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A Refined Lexicon
ambivalence, ambivalent, equivocal, equivocation, equivocate, prevaricate, prevarication, quietude, quiescent, quiescence, vanquish, pluviosity and 137 more...
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Words I Know
List of most of the words I've learned
garner, abase, abate, abdicate, abduct, aberration, abet, abhor, abide, abject, abjure, abnegation and 1046 more...
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SoSheShall's list
slurp, coeur, slurple, glop, perp, fluarxx, ropechno, herrherr, burrduhherrherr, sloppy, cheezie balls, eccentric and 634 more...
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slumry's Words
cattywampus, ingratiate, lackadaisical, exactitude, exfoliate, fulminate, circumnavigation, circuitous, debride, sidle, sequester, chicory and 1002 more...
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samuraizack's Words
floccinaucinihili..., pneumonoultramicr..., bombastic, existentialistic, velocipede, aglet, anatomical snuffbox, wonk, tang, funambulist, quakebuttock, flews and 390 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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SCRUBJAYS IDIOM
EXTRAPOLATE, altruistic, misanthropic, predicate, pejoritive, disparaging, bucolic, sylvan, veracity, autodidact, jejune, erudite and 110 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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Tolland's list
Those I've come across and try to keep fresh within my mind.
clandestine, dysphoric, indictive, vigil, fractious, assiduous, indefatigable, ubiquitous, insidious, paroicous, aplomb, sangfroid and 654 more...
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From Book - SAT & College Dictionary ...
ebb, exotic, immure, abeyance, panegyric, debonair, protege, dissipate, frantic, penitent, abject, edify and 871 more...
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conglomeration
wherewithal, wan, zoonotic, zoonosis, nebulous, nefarious, nascent, quiescent, quell, undercroft, unwitting, unutterable and 658 more...
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jerin's Words
ululating, puddle, whorl, huzzah, maharaja, mostaccioli, elizabethan, cat, felicitous, dystopian, larynx, pop and 35 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for meritorious.

dbekeny WIZARD
Well, you can't. As for you, my fine
friend -- you're a victim of disorganized
thinking. You are under the unfortunate
delusion that simply because you run away
from danger, you have no courage. You're
confusing courage with wisdom. Back where
I come from, we have men who are called
heroes. Once a year, they take their
fortitude out of mothballs and parade it
down the main street of the city. And they
have no more courage than you have. But!
They have one thing that you haven't got!
A medal! Therefore -- for meritorious....
conduct, extraordinary valor, conspicuous
bravery against wicked witches, I award you
the Triple Cross.
Jun 10, 2010