well-meritedadj.

1628 M. Mainwaring Vienna 179 Vouchsafe my Soueraigne Lord and most gracious Father, of my destined desire, and admit of his well-merited demand.

a1670 J. Hacket Cent. Serm. (1675) 901 Where there are moderate and lawful pleasures, well merited honours, just and godly gain, I dare say no such vertiginous vexation shall fall upon them.

1741 Scots Mag. Jan. 11/2 If any member of the other house should receive a well-merited reward from the crown.

1774 D. Hume Let. 1 Mar. (1932) II. 288 You have sometimes, no doubt, given your Son a Whipping; and I doubt not, but it was well merited and did him much good.

1801 Asiatic Ann. Reg. 1800 State Papers 149/2 A well merited compliment to the abilities and integrity of Sir Thomas Strange.

1827 J. S. Mill in Arch. f. Sozialwissensch. 62 456 Reformed patriots whose exertions in the cause of liberty have at length earned the well-merited award of a place.

1917 Crisis May 16/2 Arkansas fruit earned a well-merited fame in the big markets.

1946 Nature 26 Oct. 576/2 Under his wise guidance a well-merited reputation both in teaching and in research was rapidly built up.

2006 T. Beeson Canons xv. 157 He..became one of the few headmasters of that century to be accorded an entry in The Dictionary of National Biography—a well-merited distinction.