different between mercy vs indulgence

English

Etymology

From Middle English mercy, merci, from Anglo-Norman merci (compare continental Old French merci, mercit), from Latin merc?s (“wages, fee, price”), from merx (“wares, merchandise”). Displaced native Middle English are, ore (“mercy”) (from Old English ?r (“mercy, grace”), > Scots are (“mercy, grace”)), Middle English mildse (“mercy, clemency”) (from Old English milds, milts (“mercy, kindness”)). See milse.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?m??si/
• (General American) enPR: mûr?s?, IPA^(key): /?m?si/
• Rhymes: -??(?)si
• Hyphenation: mer?cy

Noun

mercy (countable and uncountable, plural mercies)

1. (uncountable) Relenting; forbearance to cause or allow harm to another.

   Antonyms: mercilessness, ruthlessness, cruelty

2. (uncountable) Forgiveness or compassion, especially toward those less fortunate.

3. (uncountable) A tendency toward forgiveness, pity, or compassion.

4. (countable) Instances of forbearance or forgiveness.

5. (countable) A blessing; something to be thankful for.

Derived terms

• bemercy
• merciful
• merciless

Related terms

• mercy me
• at the mercy of
• have mercy

Translations

Verb

mercy (third-person singular simple present mercies, present participle mercying, simple past and past participle mercied)

1. To feel mercy
2. To show mercy; to pardon or treat leniently because of mercy

Interjection

mercy

1. Expressing surprise or alarm.

   Mercy! Look at the state of you!

Further reading

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

Middle English

Etymology

From Old French mercier.

Verb

mercy

1. Alternative form of mercien
   • c. 1385, William Langland, Piers Plowman, III:

     Mildeliche Mede þanne · mercyed hem alle / Of þeire gret goodnesse.

Middle French

Noun

mercy m or f (plural mercys)

1. mercy (relenting; forbearance to cause or allow harm to another)

English

Etymology

From Middle French indulgence, or its source, Latin indulgentia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?n?d?ld???ns/
• Hyphenation: in?dul?gence

Noun

indulgence (countable and uncountable, plural indulgences)

1. the act of indulging
   • 1654, Henry Hammond, Of Fundamentals...

     will all they that either through indulgence to others or fondness to any sin in themselves, substitute for repentance any thing that is less than a sincere, uniform resolution of new obedience
2. tolerance
3. catering to someone's every desire
4. something in which someone indulges
5. An indulgent act; favour granted; gratification.
   • a. 1729, John Rogers, The Goodness of God a Motive to Repentance

     If all these gracious indulgences are without any effect on us, we must perish in our own folly.

6. (Roman Catholicism) A pardon or release from the expectation of punishment in purgatory, after the sinner has been granted absolution.
   • 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 555:

     To understand how indulgences were intended to work depends on linking together a number of assumptions about sin and the afterlife, each of which individually makes considerable sense.

Related terms

• indulge
• indulgent

Translations

Verb

indulgence (third-person singular simple present indulgences, present participle indulgencing, simple past and past participle indulgenced)

1. (transitive, Roman Catholic Church) to provide with an indulgence

French

Noun

indulgence f (plural indulgences)

1. leniency, clemency
2. (Roman Catholicism) indulgence