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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

de·mer·it

Audio Help [di-mer-it] Pronunciation Key

–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.

[Origin: 1350–1400; ME (< OF desmerite) < ML démeritum fault, n. use of neut. ptp. of L démerére to earn, win the favor of (dé- taken in ML as privative, hence pejorative). See de-, merit

]

—Related forms

de·mer·i·to·ri·ous

Audio Help [di-mer-i-tawr-ee-uh

s, -tohr-] Pronunciation Key, adjective

de·mer·i·to·ri·ous·ly, adverb

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
demerit

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

de·mer·it Audio Help (dĭ-měr'ĭt) Pronunciation Key
n.

1. A quality or characteristic deserving of blame or censure; a fault.
2. Absence of merit.
A mark made against one's record for a fault or for misconduct.

[Middle English demerite, offense, from Old French desmerite, from Latin dēmeritum, from neuter past participle of dēmerēre, to deserve : dē-, de- + merēre, to earn; see (s)mer-² in Indo-European roots.]

de·mer'i·to'ri·ous (-tôr'ē-əs, -tōr'-) adj., de·mer'i·to'ri·ous·ly adv.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

demerit
noun
1.	a mark against a person for misconduct or failure; usually given in school or armed forces; "ten demerits and he loses his privileges"
2.	the quality of being inadequate or falling short of perfection; "they discussed the merits and demerits of her novel"; "he knew his own faults much better than she did" [ant: merit]

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Demerit

De*mer"it\, n. [F. d['e]m['e]rite demerit (in sense 2), OF. demerite demerit (in sense 1), fr. L. demerere to deserve well, LL., to deserve well or ill; de- + merere to deserve. See De-, and Merit.]

1. That which one merits or deserves, either of good or ill; desert. [Obs.]

By many benefits and demerits whereby they obliged their adherents, [they] acquired this reputation. --Holland.

2. That which deserves blame; ill desert; a fault; a vice; misconduct; -- the opposite of merit.

They see no merit or demerit in any man or any action. --Burke.

Secure, unless forfeited by any demerit or offense. --Sir W. Temple.

3. The state of one who deserves ill.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Demerit

De*mer"it\, v. t. [Cf. F. d['e]m['e]riter to deserve ill. See Demerit, n.]

1. To deserve; -- said in reference to both praise and blame. [Obs.]

If I have demerited any love or thanks. --Udall.

Executed as a traitor . . . as he well demerited. --State Trials (1645).