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
-
That's the small mercy serious songs offer: not false hope, but a candle in the hallway, proof that someone else stayed up too.—
Philip Martin,
Arkansas Online,
26 June 2025
-
Sales tax revenue, meanwhile, is at the mercy of uncertain macroeconomic conditions, with many U.S. economists predicting that the country might soon fall into a recession.—
Jonathan Horwitz,
Oc Register,
26 June 2025
Noun
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Brooklyn Federal Court Judge William Kuntz handed down a 12-year and three month sentence to gun dealer Raymond Minaya Tuesday, rejecting the 29-year-old defendant’s plea for leniency, but stopping short of the more than 15 years prosecutors had sought.—
John Annese,
New York Daily News,
24 June 2025
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While some investors are willing to lend him some leniency on timing and the exact details, many want concrete signs of progress.—
Bloomberg,
Oc Register,
13 June 2025
Noun
-
Meanwhile, Trump has granted clemencies and commutations to people who owe more than $1.3 billion in restitution money, combined, to victims of white collar crime, according to the former U.S. pardon attorney Liz Oyer, who tallied the money using court records.—
Sara Dorn,
Forbes.com,
4 July 2025
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In his first and second terms, Trump has granted pardons or commutations to at least 68 people convicted of fraud crimes or of interfering with fraud investigations, according to a KFF Health News review of court and clemency records, DOJ press releases, and news reports.—
Brett Kelman,
The Tennessean,
2 July 2025
Cite this Entry
“Lenity.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lenity. Accessed 10 Jul. 2025.
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