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1. The feeling that motivates compassion
   - mercy
    
2. A disposition to be kind and forgiving
   "in those days a wife had to depend on the mercifulness of her husband"
   - mercy
    
3. Leniency and compassion shown toward offenders by a person or agency charged with administering justice
   - clemency, mercy

Derived forms: mercifulnesses

See also: merciful

Type of: compassion, compassionateness, humaneness, lenience, leniency

Antonym: mercilessness

Encyclopedia: Mercifulness