Compassion shown by sparing someone avoidable suffering or a harsher consequence.
Reach for it when praising humane restraint while leaving room for accountability
The exhausted animal found shelter, treatment, and mercy at the rescue center.
| everyday | |
|---|---|
| warm |
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| professional | |
| formal | |
| literary |
everyday
Fits when broad considerate treatment is enough
Careful Kindness lacks mercy's contrast with deserved or possible harshness.
everyday
pity
Fits when sorrow for another's suffering prompts relief
Careful Pity can feel condescending and centers the observer's emotion.
warm
Fits when awareness of suffering and desire to help are central
Careful Compassion is a feeling or disposition and need not involve sparing a penalty.
warm
Fits when releasing personal resentment after wrongdoing matters
Careful Forgiveness does not erase consequences and may occur without power over punishment.
professional
Fits when a standard or penalty is applied less strictly
Careful Leniency may arise from laxness and does not necessarily express compassion.
professional
Fits when someone declines to use all available force or authority
Careful Restraint may be tactical rather than compassionate.
formal
Fits when an authority reduces punishment
Careful Clemency is a specific official act and does not cover ordinary kindness.
formal
Fits when humane regard prevents cruel treatment
Careful Humanity is broader and can mean humankind or human nature.
literary
Fits when undeserved kindness or pardon is the intended idea
Careful Grace has strong religious meanings and may be unclear in a secular legal context.
show mercy
The official chose to show mercy without denying the damage done.
ask for mercy
The exhausted runner asked for mercy from the teasing final hill.
act of mercy
Providing water and shade was an act of mercy during the heat.
at the mercy of
Without shelter, the seedlings were at the mercy of the late frost.
Definitions and examples are written for this site. How words are chosen Recording: Dvortygirl, American accent, from Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 Updated
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