meritorious
adjective
Did you know?
People who demonstrate meritorious behavior certainly earn our respect, and you can use that fact to remember that meritorious has its roots in the Latin verb merēre, which means "to earn." (Merēre is also the source of the English noun and verb merit.) Nowadays, the rewards earned for meritorious acts are likely to be of an immaterial nature—gratitude, admiration, praise, etc.—but that wasn't always so. The history of meritorious recalls a reward more concrete in nature: cold, hard cash. In Latin, meritorious literally means "bringing in money."
Examples of meritorious in a Sentence
Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 3 Sep. 2025
In February 2025, the proposal was recommended for funding, meaning it had been rated highly meritorious through peer review by leading scientists, was prioritized by NSF program staff, and only required final administrative approval to be awarded.
—John Drake, Forbes.com, 8 Aug. 2025
While there’s no question that alleviating poverty is a meritorious pursuit, so too is funding the discovery of a technology that allows millions to live more comfortably 20 years from now.
—Omar Al-Ubaydli, semafor.com, 16 July 2025
Its Lifetime Achievement and other meritorious award recipients will be named later.
—Erik Pedersen, Deadline, 6 June 2025
See All Example Sentences for meritorious
Cite this Entry
“Meritorious.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/meritorious. Accessed 8 Sep. 2025.
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meritorious
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