meritorious

meritorious
adjective
mer·;i·;to·;ri·;ous ;mer-;-;t;r-;-;s
Synonyms of meritorious
: deserving of honor or esteem
honored for her meritorious service to the company
meritoriously adverb
meritoriousness noun


Did you know?
People who demonstrate meritorious behavior certainly earn our respect, and you can use that fact to remember that meritorious has its roots in the Latin verb mer;re, which means "to earn." (Mer;re is also the source of the English noun and verb merit.) Nowadays, the rewards earned for meritorious acts are likely to be of an immaterial nature—gratitude, admiration, praise, etc.—but that wasn't always so. The history of meritorious recalls a reward more concrete in nature: cold, hard cash. In Latin, meritorious literally means "bringing in money."

Synonyms
worthy
excellent
admirable
praiseworthy
laudable
commendable
creditable
honorable
distinguished
impressive
Examples of meritorious in a Sentence
She was given an award for meritorious service.
worked all night with meritorious determination to get the project done on time
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Awards are given for meritorious activities in accreditation, continuing education, educational innovation, preuniversity education, service to the IEEE EAB, employee professional development, and related achievements that advance the practice of engineering and of engineering education.
—IEEE Spectrum, 17 Dec. 2020
Its Lifetime Achievement and other meritorious award recipients will be named later.
—Erik Pedersen, Deadline, 6 June 2025
His 35-year career has been recognized in more than 100 awards for meritorious and heroic service, including a presidential commendation for heroism by President Ronald Reagan and two Distinguished Service Awards from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
—Sarah Rumpf-Whitten , Andrea Margolis, FOXNews.com, 30 May 2025
The firm’s services will be dedicated to helping veterans, Gold Star families, law enforcement offices and first responders — all unarguably meritorious individuals deserving of support.
—Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 17 Apr. 2025

Word History
First Known Use
15th century, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of meritorious was in the 15th century
See more words from the same century