Synonyms for merciful
- adjective
Most common
gracious compassionate forgiving lenient gentle humane clement forbearing
All synonyms
Adjective
gracious, lenient, compassionate, forgiving, clement, gentle, forbearing, good, humane, kind, pitying, sparing, mild, tender, kindly, charitable, indulgent, ruthful, relentful, easy-going, sympathetic, tolerant, propitious, benign, pitiful dated, safe slang, benignant dated
Definitions
- adj. 1
Showing mercy.
Related words
- Is a kind of
- benevolent kind
Choose the right word
The humane man will not needlessly inflict pain upon the meanest thing that lives; a merciful man is disposed to withhold or mitigate the suffering even of the guilty.
J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)
Example sentences
- gracious I didn't know that you are such a gracious person.
- compassionate My parents taught me to be a compassionate person.
- forgiving You see the world through a more forgiving lens.
- lenient Whoever is lenient with the wicked harms the good.
- gentle A noble man by woman's gentle word may oft be led.
- humane Isn't that the most humane punishment for criminals?
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| merciful | rising | |
| gracious | rising | |
| compassionate | rising | |
| forgiving | rising | |
| lenient | steady | |
| gentle | rising |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 4 letters
- good1, kind1, safe1, mild1
- 6 letters
- gentle2, tender2, kindly2, humane2, benign2
- 7 letters
- clement2, pitiful3, lenient3, sparing2, pitying3, ruthful
- 8 letters
- gracious2, tolerant3
- 9 letters
- forgiving3, indulgent3, benignant, relentful
- 10 letters
- charitable4, propitious3, forbearing
- 11 letters
- sympathetic4
- 13 letters
- compassionate4
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (gentle2 = 2 syllables).
In other languages
- Français
- miséricordieux
- Italiano
- misericordioso
- Deutsch
- barmherzig
- Català
- misericordiós