What does merciful mean?
Word: Merciful
Part of Speech: Adjective
Meaning: Merciful means showing kindness and forgiveness, especially by not punishing someone as hard as you could; also describes something that brings relief.
Synonyms: forgiving, kind, compassionate, lenient
Antonyms: unforgiving
How do you spell merciful?
Syllables: mer - ci - ful
Tricky part: The y of mercy turns into i before ful, as in beautiful.
Watch out for: mercyful, mersiful
Memory tip: Merciful keeps the c of mercy, never an s, however much it sounds like one.
Merciful in a sentence
Example 1: The merciful king let the farmers off their taxes in the year of the drought.
Example 2: After weeks of heat, the first monsoon shower felt merciful.
Example 3: Be merciful to the new players and give them time to learn the rules.
Fun Fact
Mercy, the root of merciful, comes from the same Latin word as French merci, which means thank you.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the word opposite in meaning to merciful as used in the sentence:
The umpire was merciful and let the young bowler off with a warning instead of a penalty.
a) patient
b) tolerant
c) harsh
d) gentle
Show answer
c) harsh. A merciful umpire goes easy on the bowler and a harsh one would punish him, while gentle, tolerant and patient are all close to merciful.
Word Cookie
Find the extra letter in the word:
mearciful
a) r
b) u
c) e
d) a
Show answer
d) a. Mercy starts with mer, so there is no a before the r.
Spell-o-Spell
One word in the list is misspelt. Choose the meaning of the misspelt word.
1. bontiful 2. merciful 3. dutiful 4. fanciful
a) using imagination rather than facts
b) ready to forgive and go easy on others
c) doing what you are expected to do
d) large in amount; given generously
Show answer
d) large in amount; given generously. Bountiful has ou after the b, as in bounty, so bontiful is misspelt; merciful, dutiful and fanciful are all correct.
Mingle-Mangle
Unjumble the word in the sentence and choose it:
The teacher was cueflmir and gave the whole class one more day to finish the project.
a) mindful
b) mournful
c) merciful
d) masterful
Show answer
c) merciful. The letters include c, r and i, and only merciful uses all three; mindful, mournful and masterful each need letters that are not here.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. An old customer at a merciful shopkeeper's counter finds he is a few coins short. The shopkeeper will most likely ____.
a) charge him extra next time
b) ask him to leave the shop
c) refuse to sell him anything
d) let him pay the rest next time
Show answer
d) let him pay the rest next time
2. In 'the merciful shade of the banyan tree', the shade is merciful because it ____.
a) darkens the whole busy street
b) keeps the ground damp all day
c) hides the noisy birds from view
d) protects people from the hot sun
Show answer
d) protects people from the hot sun
