Dictionary

immeritorious en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ɪmɛɹɪˈtɔːɹɪəs/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• ĭmĕrĭtôʹrĭəs (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

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

Meanings

1. Unworthy of merit; not deserving of merit; not meritorious.
   • 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. 1883, Mind, volume 8, B. Blackwell, page 24:
   • 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. 2004: Damien Géradin, Modernisation and Enlargement: Two Major Challenges for EC Competition Law, page 137 (Intersentia; →ISBN, 9050954324)

Forms

Deriveds

immeritoriously · immeritoriousness

Relateds

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