mercy
noun /ˈmɜːsi/
/ˈmɜːrsi/
(plural mercies)
Idioms - [uncountable] a kind or forgiving attitude towards somebody that you have the power to harm or right to punish synonym humanity
- to ask/beg/plead for mercy
- They showed no mercy to their hostages.
- God have mercy on us.
- The troops are on a mercy mission (= a journey to help people) in the war zone.
Extra ExamplesTopics Personal qualitiesc1- God's infinite mercy
- He asked for mercy for the crimes he had committed.
- The prisoners begged for mercy.
- The terrorists are completely without mercy.
- There shall be no mercy for my enemies.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- divine
- infinite
- great
- …
- ask for
- beg for
- plead for
- …
- dash
- mission
- killing
- …
- at the mercy of
- without mercy
- mercy for
- …
- be grateful for small mercies
- be thankful for small mercies
- [countable, usually singular] (informal) an event or a situation to be grateful for, usually because it stops something unpleasant
- It is a mercy (that)… It's a mercy she wasn't seriously hurt.
- His death was a mercy (= because he was in great pain).
see also merciful, merciless
Word OriginMiddle English: from Old French merci ‘pity’ or ‘thanks’, from Latin merces, merced- ‘reward’, in Christian Latin ‘pity, favour, heavenly reward’.
Idioms
at the mercy of somebody/something
- not able to stop somebody/something harming you because they have power or control over you
- I'm not going to put myself at the mercy of the bank.
- We were at the mercy of the weather.
be grateful/thankful for small mercies
- to be happy that a situation that is bad is not as bad as it could have been
- Well, at least you weren't hurt. I suppose we should be grateful for small mercies.
leave somebody/something to the mercy/mercies of somebody/something
- to leave somebody/something in a situation that may cause them to suffer or to be treated badly
- privatized companies left to the mercy of market forces
- (humorous) I’ll leave you to the tender mercies of these ladies!
throw yourself on somebody’s mercy
- (formal) to put yourself in a situation where you must rely on somebody to be kind to you and not harm or punish you