different between eager vs lenient

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?i??/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?i???/
• Rhymes: -i???(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English egre, eger, from Old French egre (French aigre), from Latin acer (“sharp, keen”); see acid, acerb, etc. Compare vinegar, alegar.

Alternative forms

• aigre (obsolete)
• eagre (obsolete)

Adjective

eager (comparative more eager, superlative most eager)

1. Desirous; keen to do or obtain something.
   • 1887, John Keble, s:The Christian Year

     When to her eager lips is brought / Her infant's thrilling kiss.

   • a crowd of eager and curious schoolboys
2. (computing theory) Not employing lazy evaluation; calculating results immediately, rather than deferring calculation until they are required.

   an eager algorithm

3. (dated) Brittle; inflexible; not ductile.

   • gold itself will be sometimes so eager, (as artists call it), that it will as little endure the hammer as glass itself

4. (obsolete) Sharp; sour; acid.
5. (obsolete) Sharp; keen; bitter; severe.

Synonyms

• keen
• raring
• fain (archaic)

Derived terms

• eager beaver
• eagerly
• eagerness

Translations

Etymology 2

See eagre.

Noun

eager (plural eagers)

1. Alternative form of eagre (tidal bore).

Further reading

• eager in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• eager in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• eager at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• aeger, agree, eagre, geare, æger

English

Etymology

From Middle French lénient, from Latin l?niens, present participle of l?n?re (“to soften, soothe”), from l?nis (“soft”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?li?ni.?nt/

Adjective

lenient (comparative more lenient, superlative most lenient)

1. Lax; not strict; tolerant of dissent or deviation

   The standard is fairly lenient, so use your discretion.

   • 1847, Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, Chapter XVIII

     But in other points, as well as this, I was growing very lenient to my master; I was forgetting all his faults, for which I had once kept a sharp look-out. It had formerly been my endeavour to study all sides of his character; to take the bad with the good; and from the just weighing of both, to form an equitable judgment. Now I saw no bad.

Synonyms

• lax, permissive

Antonyms

• strict
• severe
• stringent
• unlenient

Related terms

• lenience
• leniency
• lenity

Derived terms

• leniently
• unlenient

Translations

Noun

lenient (plural lenients)

1. (medicine) A lenitive; an emollient.

Further reading

• lenient in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• lenient in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• lenient at OneLook Dictionary Search

Latin

Verb

l?nient

1. third-person plural future active indicative of l?ni?