How to Use merit in a Sentence

merit

1 of 2 noun
  • She saw merit in both of the arguments.
  • The study has no scientific merit.
  • Not all of the league’s ideas lack merit.
    — Ken Rosenthal, New York Times, 24 June 2026
  • These ideas have merit — but miss the point.
    — Ed Gaskin, Boston Herald, 17 Apr. 2026
  • But his work on the unit stands on its own merits.
    — Scott Dochterman, New York Times, 13 Jan. 2026
  • Some of these ideas have merit; others do not.
    — Fred P. Hochberg, Boston Herald, 21 Jan. 2026
  • His record deserves to be judged on its own merits.
    — John Avlon, The Atlantic, 25 May 2026
  • That is not a judgment of merit.
    — Literary Hub, 19 May 2026
  • Put their ideas out there and let the people judge their merit.
    — Mark Z. Barabak, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2021
  • The appeals court judges did not rule on the merits on the case.
    — Arelis R. Hernández, Washington Post, 4 Mar. 2024
  • All of these things have some merit but are not the answer.
    — Chicago Tribune, 29 Aug. 2025
  • Still not convinced about the merits of plants?
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Apr. 2026
  • But the past few days merit notice.
    — Stephanie A, The Conversation, 8 Apr. 2026
  • This fear is not without merit.
    — Dave Boucher, Freep.com, 25 Aug. 2025
  • This is where there’s merit to the winning-cures-all thought process.
    — Sean Collins, Dallas News, 6 Nov. 2020
  • That, more than anything, has merit.
    — Miami Herald, 1 Feb. 2026
  • But to your greater point, yes, there is some merit to seeing where this youth leads.
    — Ira Winderman, sun-sentinel.com, 23 Aug. 2019
  • To explore the merits of a cave feels a touch silly.
    — Nicole Kliest, Vogue, 23 June 2026
  • Still, the Luna stands on its own merits.
    — Jim Fisher, PC Magazine, 23 June 2026
  • If there is truth or merit in the criticism, try to learn from it.
    — Shelby Deering, Woman's Day, 31 Jan. 2023
  • The standards are the same for both genders to earn merit badges.
    — Krista Torralva, ExpressNews.com, 30 July 2019
  • Learning new facts and techniques may have a great deal of merit.
    — oregonlive, 30 Apr. 2020
  • Sports are about mastery and merit and yes, vying to win.
    — Jackson Thompson, FOXNews.com, 7 Feb. 2026
  • The 49ers will rise or fall on their own merits and emotions.
    — Scott Ostler, SFChronicle.com, 8 Jan. 2020
  • Huntsville won this selection process fair and square based on the merits.
    — Lee Roop | [email protected], al, 31 July 2023
  • But a federal judge found no merit to the claims and threw out the case last year.
    — Kelly Cannon, The Salt Lake Tribune, 18 Sep. 2020
  • The bank says the lawsuit is without merit.
    — Diane Brady, Fortune, 23 Jan. 2026
  • Just a common sense idea without too much thought, but maybe there's some merits to it.
    — Peter King, SI.com, 2 May 2018
  • That is not a rejection of merit.
    — Brian Castrucci, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026
  • The point here isn’t to rule on the merits of photo ID.
    — Julian Baron, Baltimore Sun, 16 Feb. 2026

merit

2 of 2 verb
  • His good work merits a raise.
  • She did well enough to merit a second interview.
  • The attention she received was not merited.
  • These issues merit special attention.
  • Both ideas merit further consideration.
  • And that plan does not merit a passing grade.
    — Marie Sapirie, Forbes.com, 25 Aug. 2025
  • Lol kid hasn’t done enough to merit a response from me.
    — Lawrence Dow, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 Dec. 2025
  • This one had to be good enough to merit being called the best.
    — Julie Giuffrida, Los Angeles Times, 12 Mar. 2023
  • That rare price tag merits nothing less.
    — Stacia Datskovska, Footwear News, 7 Jan. 2026
  • His journey merits its own movie.
    — Los Angeles Times, 9 Mar. 2026
  • Holland should hope to do enough to merit a practice squad spot.
    — Ryan O'Halloran, The Denver Post, 11 Aug. 2019
  • But others on the list didn’t seem to merit their spots, either.
    — Griff Witte, Washington Post, 15 May 2018
  • This just did not seem like one that that should merit this kind of a discussion.
    — Laura Johnston, cleveland, 14 Nov. 2022
  • No cause was too large — or small — to merit the high beam of her attention.
    — Howard Cohen, miamiherald, 17 May 2017
  • How can merit become a kind of tyranny?
    — Belinda Luscombe, Time, 13 Oct. 2025
  • And right now, none of these clubs would even merit a wild-card flotation device.
    — Gabe Lacques, USA TODAY, 6 June 2023
  • As a group, that is not a body of souls who merit special treatment via the tax code.
    — Robert Goulder, Forbes, 7 June 2021
  • Those have to be merited -- through the course of the season, through the course of games.
    — Ira Winderman, sun-sentinel.com, 26 Aug. 2019
  • Being on stage at a concert does not seem to merit such concern or alarm.
    — Ira Winderman, sun-sentinel.com, 27 July 2021
  • The first two weeks of June seem to merit attention on those grounds.
    — Martin Weil, Washington Post, 15 June 2018
  • Yes, there were a few on Sunday night that merited free throws.
    — Ira Winderman, Sun Sentinel, 26 Jan. 2026
  • And trust me, the ends get disastrous enough to merit the use of crossbows.
    — Emily Tannenbaum, Glamour, 15 Oct. 2021
  • So the founders devised standards that would merit six and even seven stars.
    — Roger Trapp, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2021
  • That was not enough to merit even small school honorable mention.
    — Curt Hogg, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 18 Nov. 2019
  • Two things bugged me enough to merit writing down during testing.
    — Jonathan M. Gitlin, Ars Technica, 16 May 2018
  • There was at least enough there to merit clearing your next few Sundays to find out.
    — Cliff Pinckard, cleveland.com, 10 Sep. 2017
  • That job is important enough to merit its own 12-page guide from the state.
    — Ann Doss Helms, charlotteobserver, 31 May 2018
  • And those kinds of comments don’t merit off-the-record protections.
    — Eric Todisco, PEOPLE.com, 20 Nov. 2019
  • As a tool, litigation should be used when merited by the facts and the law.
    — Martha Coakley, Fortune, 13 Dec. 2023
  • Avicii would need to wait a few more decades to qualify, his beats surely merited a place.
    — Colton Valentine, New Yorker, 24 Jan. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'merit.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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