How do you use the word "merit" in a sentence?

Here are real-life examples of using "merit": At the meeting I pointed out the plan's merit. There is little merit in this plan.

Merit Meaning

/ˈmɛɹɪt/

Definition, CEFR level C1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.

Definition

nounA claim to commendation or a reward.

nounA mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence.

Sentence Examples

At the meeting I pointed out the plan's merit.

There is little merit in this plan.

A work of outstanding artistic merit

Synonyms & Antonyms

Synonyms:

deserve virtue

Antonyms:

None

CEFR Practice Quiz

The scholarship is awarded based on academic ____, not financial need.

CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)

The committee will carefully evaluate each application based on its individual ____ and overall research potential.

Word Origin & History

From Middle English merit, merite (“quality of person’s character or conduct deserving of reward or punishment; such reward or punishment; excellence, worthiness; benefit; right to be rewarded for spiritual service; retribution at doomsday; virtue through which Jesus Christ brings about salvation; virtue possessed by a holy person; power of a pagan deity”), from Anglo-Norman merit, merite, Old French merite (“moral worth, reward; merit”) (modern French mérite), from Latin meritum (“that which one deserves, deserts; benefit, reward, merit; service; kindness; importance, value, worth; blame, demerit, fault; grounds, reason”), neuter of meritus (“deserved, earned, obtained; due, proper, right; deserving, meritorious”), perfect passive participle of mereō (“to deserve, earn, obtain, merit; to earn a living”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mer- (“to allot, assign”). The English word is probably cognate with Ancient Greek μέρος (méros, “component, part; portion, share; destiny, fate, lot”) and cognate with Old Occitan merit.

Literary Quotations & Historical Citations

"[R]eputation is an idle and moſt falſe impoſition , oft got without merit and loſt without deſeruing." — c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, The Tragœdy of Othello, the Moore of Venice. […] (First Quarto), London: […] N[icholas] O[kes] for Thomas Walkley, […], published 1622, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iii], page 36:

"Thoſe laurel groves (the merits of thy youth), / Which thou from Mahomet didſt greatly gain, / While, bold aſſertor of reſiſtleſs truth, / Thy ſword did godlike liberty maintain, / Muſt from thy brow their falling honours ſhed, / And their tranſplanted wreaths muſt deck a worthier head." — a. 1722 (date written), Matthew Prior, “An Ode Humbly Inscrib’d to the Queen”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior […], volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Strahan, […], published 1779, →OCLC, stanza IX, page 275:

"Such was Roſcommon—not more learn’d than good; / With Manners gen’rous as his Noble Blood; / To him the Wit of Greece and Rome was known, / And ev’ry Author’s Merit but his own." — 1711 May, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Criticism, London: […] W[illiam] Lewis […]; and sold by W[illiam] Taylor […], T[homas] Osborn[e] […], and J[ohn] Graves […], →OCLC, page 42:

"In all our noble Anglo-Saxon language, there is scarcely a nobler word than worth; yet this term has now almost exclusively a pecuniary meaning. So that if you ask what a man is worth, nobody ever thinks of telling you what he is, but what he has. The answer will never refer to his merits, his virtues, but always to his possessions. He is worth—so much money." — 1877, Richard Fuller, “Sermon Thirteenth. The Gospel Stifled by Covetousness.”, in Sermons by Richard Fuller, […] (Second Series), Baltimore, Md.: Published by John F[rederick] Weishampel, Jr.; Philadelphia, Pa.: American Baptist Publication Society; New York, N.Y.: Sheldon and Company, →OCLC, page 244:

"It is no small tax upon the people to support their [Buddhist] priests, but they do it with a willing heart. When I was once at the old capital, I saw a woman, from her own stock, feed more than fifty priests, who came to her in his turn, and received his portion. [...] If I had asked her why she thus spent so much of her living, her answer would have been, 'To make merit.'" — 1855 October, “Siamese Merit-making”, in The Church Missionary Gleaner, volume V (New Series), London: Seeley, Jackson and Halliday […], →OCLC, page 118:

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