de-merit
ɪt noun
1.
a mark against a person for misconduct or deficiency: If you receive four demerits during a term, you will be expelled from school.
2.
the quality of being censurable or punishable; fault; culpability.
3.
Obsolete. merit or desert.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To de-merit
00:10
De-merit
is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
demerit (diːˈmɛrɪt, ˈdiːˌmɛrɪt) ![[Click for IPA pronunciation guide]](http://static.sfdict.com/dictstatic/g/d/dictionary_questionbutton_default.gif) | |
| —n | |
| 1. | something, esp conduct, that deserves censure |
| 2. | (US), (Canadian) a mark given against a person for failure or misconduct, esp in schools or the armed forces |
| 3. | a fault or disadvantage |
| [C14 (originally: worth, later specialized to mean: something worthy of blame): from Latin dēmerērī to deserve] | |
| demeri'torious | |
| —adj | |
| demeri'toriously | |
| —adv | |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
demerit
1399, from O.Fr. desmerite, from des- "not, opposite" + merite "merit." L. demereri meant "to merit, deserve," from de- in its completive sense. But M.L. demeritum meant "fault." Both senses existed in the M.Fr. form of the word. Meaning "penalty point in school" is attested from 1862.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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