merit

mer|it¹ [ˈmerıt] n

[Date: 1100-1200; : Old French; Origin: merite, from Latin meritum, from merere 'to deserve, earn']

1.)

an advantage or good feature of something

merit of

▪ The film has the merit of being short.

▪ The merit of the report is its realistic assessment of the changes required.

▪ The great merit of the project is its flexibility and low cost.

▪ Each of these approaches to teaching has its merits.

▪ Tonight's meeting will weigh up the relative merits of the two candidates.

2.) [U] formal

a good quality that makes someone or something deserve praise

▪ There is never any merit in being second best.

have (some) merit/be of merit

(=be good)

▪ The suggestion has some merit.

on merit

▪ All students are selected solely on merit (=because they are good) .

artistic/literary merit

▪ a film lacking any kind of artistic merit

3.) judge/consider etc sth on its (own) merits

to judge something only on what you see when you look at it rather than on what you know from other people or things

▪ It's important to judge each case on its merits.

merit ²

merit² v [T not in progressive] formal

to be good, important, or serious enough for praise or attention

= ↑deserve

▪ The results have been encouraging enough to merit further investigation.

▪ It's a fascinating book which merits attention.