lenity


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len·i·ty

 (lĕn′ĭ-tē)
n.
The condition or quality of being lenient; leniency: "His Majesty gave many marks of his great lenity, often ... endeavoring to extenuate your crimes" (Jonathan Swift).

[Latin lēnitās, from lēnis, soft; see lē- in Indo-European roots.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

lenity

(ˈlɛnɪtɪ)
n, pl -ties
the state or quality of being lenient
[C16: from Latin lēnitās gentleness, from lēnis soft]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

len•i•ty

(ˈlɛn ɪ ti)

n., pl. -ties.
1. the quality or state of being mild or gentle.
2. a lenient act.
[1540–50; < Latin lēnitās. See lenis, -ty2]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
lenify, lenity - To lenify is to alleviate or soothe an emotion or suffering, from Latin lenire, "soften"; lenity means kindness or gentleness.
See also related terms for soften.
Farlex Trivia Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.

lenity

the quality or condition of being gentle or merciful. — lenient, adj.
See also: Attitudes
-Ologies & -Isms. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.lenity - mercifulness as a consequence of being lenient or tolerantlenity - mercifulness as a consequence of being lenient or tolerant
mercifulness, mercy - a disposition to be kind and forgiving; "in those days a wife had to depend on the mercifulness of her husband"
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

lenity

noun
1. Kind, forgiving, or compassionate treatment of or disposition toward others:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations

lenity

nNachsicht f, → Milde f
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
References in classic literature ?
"In the several debates upon this impeachment, it must be confessed that his majesty gave many marks of his great lenity; often urging the services you had done him, and endeavouring to extenuate your crimes.
That if his majesty, in consideration of your services, and pursuant to his own merciful disposition, would please to spare your life, and only give orders to put out both your eyes, he humbly conceived, that by this expedient justice might in some measure be satisfied, and all the world would applaud the lenity of the emperor, as well as the fair and generous proceedings of those who have the honour to be his counsellors.
"In three days your friend the secretary will be directed to come to your house, and read before you the articles of impeachment; and then to signify the great lenity and favour of his majesty and council, whereby you are only condemned to the loss of your eyes, which his majesty does not question you will gratefully and humbly submit to; and twenty of his majesty's surgeons will attend, in order to see the operation well performed, by discharging very sharp-pointed arrows into the balls of your eyes, as you lie on the ground.
It was a custom introduced by this prince and his ministry (very different, as I have been assured, from the practice of former times,) that after the court had decreed any cruel execution, either to gratify the monarch's resentment, or the malice of a favourite, the emperor always made a speech to his whole council, expressing his great lenity and tenderness, as qualities known and confessed by all the world.
But do not imagine that with all this lenity I have for a moment given up my plan of her marriage.
"If the girl had been one of those vain trollops, of which we have too many in the parish, I should have condemned my brother for his lenity towards her.
Not that charity only which causes us to help the needy and comfort the suffering, but that feeling of universal philanthropy which, by teaching us to love, causes us to judge with lenity all men; striking at the root of self-righteousness, and warning us to be sparing of our condemnation of others, while our own salvation is not yet secure.”
"To give you pleasure, my sweet Renee, I promise to show all the lenity in my power; but if the charges brought against this Bonapartist hero prove correct, why, then, you really must give me leave to order his head to be cut off." Renee shuddered.
The Spaniard who was governor told them, in so many words, that if they had been of his own country he would have hanged them; for all laws and all governors were to preserve society, and those who were dangerous to the society ought to be expelled out of it; but as they were Englishmen, and that it was to the generous kindness of an Englishman that they all owed their preservation and deliverance, he would use them with all possible lenity, and would leave them to the judgment of the other two Englishmen, who were their countrymen.
The new outrage, by which she had provoked her fate, seemed to render further lenity impossible; and a gentleman in military dress, with a stout man of inferior rank, drew towards the door of the meeting-house, and awaited her approach.
(76) For example, the rule of lenity, a canon of construction, instructs judges to construe ambiguous criminal statues in favor of defendants.
The project team included Stephens & Sons Construction Inc., general contractor; Lenity Architecture Inc., architectural firm; Leslie Engineering, engineering firm; and One Chestnut LLC, owner/developer.