Synonyms for leniency
le·nien·cy

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. leniency

   Mercy is the exercise of less severity than one deserves, or in a more extended sense, the granting of kindness or favor beyond what one may rightly claim. Grace is favor, kindness, or blessing shown to the undeserving; forgiveness, mercy, and pardon are exercised toward the ill-deserving. Pardon remits the outward penalty which the offender deserves; forgiveness dismisses resentment or displeasure from the heart of the one offended; mercy seeks the highest possible good of the offender. There may be mercy without pardon, as in the mitigation of sentence, or in all possible alleviation of necessary severity; there may be cases where pardon would not be mercy, since it would encourage to repetition of the offense, from which timely punishment might have saved. Mercy is also used in the wider sense of refraining from harshness or cruelty toward those who are in one's power without fault of their own; as, they besought the robber to have mercy. Clemency is a colder word than mercy, and without its religious associations, signifying mildness and moderation in the use of power where severity would have legal or military, rather than moral sanction; it often denotes a habitual mildness of disposition on the part of the powerful, and is matter rather of good nature or policy than of principle. Leniency or lenity denotes an easy-going avoidance of severity; these words are more general and less magisterial than clemency; we should speak of the leniency of a parent, the clemency of a conqueror. Compare PITY.

   Synonyms:
   benevolence, benignity, blessing, clemency, compassion, favor, forbearance, forgiveness, gentleness, grace, kindness, lenience, lenity, mercy, mildness, pardon, pardon, pity, tenderness

   Antonyms:
   cruelty, hardness, harshness, implacability, justice, penalty, punishment, revenge, rigor, severity, sternness, vengeance

   Preposition:
   The mercy of God to or toward sinners; have mercy on or upon one.

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. lenience, leniency, mildness, lenitynoun

   mercifulness as a consequence of being lenient or tolerant

   Synonyms:
   clemency, gentleness, mildness, softness, lenience, lenity, indulgence

2. indulgence, lenience, leniencynoun

   a disposition to yield to the wishes of someone

   "too much indulgence spoils a child"

   Synonyms:
   mildness, self-indulgence, foolery, pampering, lenience, tomfoolery, indulging, indulgence, humoring, lunacy, folly, craziness, lenity

3. lenience, leniencynoun

   lightening a penalty or excusing from a chore by judges or parents or teachers

   Synonyms:
   lenity, indulgence, mildness, lenience

Matched Categories

1. • Permissiveness
   • Tolerance

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. leniencynoun

   Synonyms:
   clemency, mildness, lenity, mercy, tenderness, gentleness, forbearance

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:4.0 / 1 vote

1. List of paraphrases for "leniency":

   clemency, indulgence, clémence, mercy, forbearance, complacency, letup, laxity

How to pronounce leniency?

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How to use leniency in a sentence?

1. Alex Capri:

   No Chinese company can openly challenge the Chinese Communist Party and expect leniency.

2. Carlos Lima:

   There are more, there are leniency agreements underway that talk about this, but until they are finalized we will not know how many (projects) for sure.

3. Alessandra Gonsales:

   The biggest challenge in relationship to the leniency agreements is judicial security for the companies.

4. Gerges Scott:

   Private prisons have the same standards and guidelines as federal prisons, there is a lot more accountability for private prisons. Union workers in public prisons provide a lot of leniency for their employees. In a private prison, a majority are not unionized, so the oversight is very rigid.

5. Shira Scheindlin:

   I don't think judges are going to be too intimidated, but for those few who have the ambition to go to a higher court, they may think twice about leniency, that's unfortunate. They should only be thinking about the defendant in front of them.