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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When sending and receiving payments, SMBs can find themselves at the mercy of exchange rates.—
Visa Contributor,
Forbes.com,
5 June 2025
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But Cuomo and others are wrong to assume that the city is at the mercy of Capitol lawmakers.—
Paul Sonn,
New York Daily News,
4 June 2025
Noun
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The judge cited the defendants' ages and health concerns as reasons for leniency.—
Doc Louallen,
ABC News,
6 June 2025
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Mia Matthews, ex-wife of Palm Beach real estate swindler and Rowland friend Robert Matthews, was in federal court Thursday in Bridgeport where, after pleading for leniency, she was sentenced to probation and fined $6,000 for evading $2.75 million in taxes with her former husband.—
Edmund H. Mahony,
Hartford Courant,
5 June 2025
Noun
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Amid calls for tough punishments, clemency for high-level drug traffickers Trump's clemency for Hoover and other drug offenders follows a pattern that began during his first term in the White House.—
Brian Mann,
NPR,
31 May 2025
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Trump and his deputies have signaled that the Justice Department’s focus on violent extremism is over, starting with the president’s clemency order for militants charged in the storming of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.—
Hannah Allam,
ProPublica,
31 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Lenity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lenity. Accessed 14 Jun. 2025.
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