Mercifully

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Merciful \Mer"ci*ful\, a. [Mercy + -ful.]
     1. Full of mercy; having or exercising mercy; disposed to
        pity and spare offenders; unwilling to punish. Opposite of
        {merciless}.
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              The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. --Ex.
                                                    xxxiv. 6.
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              Be merciful, great duke, to men of mold. --Shak.
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     2. Unwilling to give pain; compassionate.
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              A merciful man will be merciful to his beast. --Old
                                                    Proverb.
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     Syn: Compassionate; tender; humane; gracious; kind; mild;
          clement; benignant.
          [1913 Webster] -- {Mer"ci*ful*ly}, adv. --
          {Mer"ci*ful*ness}, n.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  mercifully
       adv 1: in a manner that may be cruel but avoids suffering; "we more
              mercifully had our bouncing betties go off at the
              head"
       2: in a compassionate manner; "he dealt with the thief
          mercifully" [syn: {with mercy}, {showing mercy}]