immeritorious

English

Etymology

im- (“un-”, “not”) + meritorious (“worthy or deserving of merit”); compare the Latin immeritōrius

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: ĭmĕrĭtôʹrĭəs, IPA^(key): /ɪmɛɹɪˈtɔːɹɪəs/

Adjective

immeritorious (comparative more immeritorious, superlative most immeritorious)

1. Unworthy of merit; not deserving of merit; not meritorious.
   • 1883, Mind, volume 8, B. Blackwell, page 24:

     Their acceptance indeed, as a formula, may show a willing and tractable spirit, and they may to that extent have a value : but such acceptance differs of course from belief in being admittedly a voluntary act, and not a mere immeritorious and reluctant yielding to the brute weight of evidence.

   • 2004: Damien Géradin, Modernisation and Enlargement: Two Major Challenges for EC Competition Law, page 137 (Intersentia; →ISBN, 9050954324)

     As long as the defence is credible and can be reasonably substantiated so that the counterclaim is not evidently immeritorious, the attacked party has little to lose, and may gain time.

Derived terms

• immeritoriously

Related terms

• “†immeriˈtorious, a.” listed in the Oxford English Dictionary, second edition (1989)