merit
Other forms: merits; merited; meriting
Merit means "worthiness or excellence." If you receive a certificate of merit in school, you are being recognized for doing a good job. As a verb, merit means "deserve." Your certificate might merit a prominent place on your bulletin board!
You will often hear the phrases "merit-based promotion" and "merit-based pay," which come up when employees are pushing against a system in which time on the job — and not job performance — determines when workers are promoted and how much they are paid. Using the word merit suggests impartiality and objectivity — such as when you swear off a prejudiced approach to something and vow to "judge it on its merits."
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the quality of being deserving (e.g., deserving assistance)synonyms: deservingness, meritoriousnesstype of:worthinessthe quality or state of having merit or value
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any admirable quality or attribute
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be worthy or deservingsynonyms: deservetypes:have it comingdeserve (either good or bad)type of:behave the quality of being; (copula, used with an adjective or a predicate noun)
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Vocabulary lists containing merit
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Here is the granddaddy of all soliloquies, from Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet" (1594).
An administrative mistake lands troublemaker Donovan Kurtis at the Academy of Scholastic Distinction, a prestigious school for gifted students.