lenity

English

Etymology

From Middle French lénité, from Latin lenitas.

Noun

lenity (countable and uncountable, plural lenities)

leniency, mercy, forgiveness
- c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], part 1, 2nd edition, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene ii:
  His Highneſſe pleaſure is that he ſhould liue,
  And be reclaim’d with princely lenitie.
- 1838, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], Duty and Inclination, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, page 309:
  If his judgment in this case was erroneous, be it remembered it was his own; nor let the narrator be accountable for an excess of lenity and good nature peculiarly characteristic of the man.

Derived terms

rule of lenity

Anagrams

Tilney, Tinley, tinley

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