to the (tender) mercies of
idiom
: without any protection from (someone or something one cannot control)
As the army retreated, the people were left to the mercies of the advancing enemy.
Examples of to the (tender) mercies of in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
But that doesn’t mean that its long-term prospects for democracy are hopeless, or that the United States should leave the country to the tender mercies of warring factions and Chinese intervention.
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Timothy McLaughlin, The Atlantic, 4 Apr. 2024
The only times when protests succeed are when police forces abandon highly unpopular politicians to the mercies of the irate mob (the 2013 Maidan Revolution in Ukraine and the 1989 Romanian Revolution come to mind).
—Brynn Tannehill, The New Republic, 28 July 2023
Just have a look at surging crime in every American city that has consigned itself to the tender mercies of the progressive prosecutors and defund-the-police activists typical of one-party Democratic governance.
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 22 Oct. 2022
The last intifada, from 2000 to roughly 2005, exhausted the Palestinian civilian population and, in the end, left them to the mercies of the settlers and the soldiers.
—David Shulman, The New York Review of Books, 3 June 2021
Timothy McLaughlin, The Atlantic, 4 Apr. 2024
The only times when protests succeed are when police forces abandon highly unpopular politicians to the mercies of the irate mob (the 2013 Maidan Revolution in Ukraine and the 1989 Romanian Revolution come to mind).
—Brynn Tannehill, The New Republic, 28 July 2023
Just have a look at surging crime in every American city that has consigned itself to the tender mercies of the progressive prosecutors and defund-the-police activists typical of one-party Democratic governance.
—Andrew C. McCarthy, National Review, 22 Oct. 2022
The last intifada, from 2000 to roughly 2005, exhausted the Palestinian civilian population and, in the end, left them to the mercies of the settlers and the soldiers.
—David Shulman, The New York Review of Books, 3 June 2021
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'to the (tender) mercies of.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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“To the (tender) mercies of.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/to%20the%20%28tender%29%20mercies%20of. Accessed 20 Apr. 2024.
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