as in mercy
kind, gentle, or compassionate treatment especially towards someone who is undeserving of it
a social critic who argues that judicial lenity is chiefly to blame for the increased criminality that plagues us
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Recent Examples of lenity
Twelve judges sided with Cargill and concluded that the definition of machine gun was ambiguous enough to invoke a legal principle known as the rule of lenity, which requires courts to interpret unclear criminal laws in a way that's most favorable to the defendant.
—
Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 28 Feb. 2024
The majority’s treatment of the rule of lenity also strikes a slightly sour note.
—The Insider, Forbes, 15 Apr. 2021
If the rule of lenity applies here, then Butler should not be charged with a hate crime.
—Mark Joseph Stern, Slate Magazine, 25 Apr. 2017
Melissa Quinn, CBS News, 28 Feb. 2024
The majority’s treatment of the rule of lenity also strikes a slightly sour note.
—The Insider, Forbes, 15 Apr. 2021
If the rule of lenity applies here, then Butler should not be charged with a hate crime.
—Mark Joseph Stern, Slate Magazine, 25 Apr. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lenity
Noun
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What’s more, the questionable financial literacy and investment skills of most Americans leaves them at the mercy of providers of financial services and products of all kinds.—
Andrea Riquier,
USA Today,
22 Oct. 2025
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Adding someone via trade is also an option, but the Yankees and Brian Cashman would then be at the mercy of another general manager.—
Drew VonScio,
MSNBC Newsweek,
21 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Tottleben had a tumultuous upbringing, according to friends who wrote letters to the judge asking for leniency last year in his federal sentence.—
Erik Ortiz,
NBC news,
22 Oct. 2025
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Trump’s leniency toward dubious white-collar figures also extends well beyond the crypto realm.—
Evan Hughes,
The Atlantic,
20 Oct. 2025
Noun
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Trump cannot pardon himself in the hush money case because presidential clemency power only applies to federal cases.—
Kinsey Crowley,
USA Today,
22 Oct. 2025
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On Wednesday, Hoover's attorney, Justin Moore of the Stafford Moore Law Firm, filed a 39-page petition for clemency, obtained exclusively by ABC News.—
Beatrice Peterson,
ABC News,
22 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Lenity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lenity. Accessed 29 Oct. 2025.
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