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leniency
[lee-nee-uhn-see, leen-yuhn-]
51³Ô¹Ï History and Origins
Example Sentences
Pleading for leniency, defense attorneys invoked Do’s back story as a man who rose to public service after a childhood in war-ravaged Vietnam.
For the public agencies involved, the resistance represents an intransigence that belies the assistance and leniency they’ve offered to Flores and fellow protesters who call their group “Reclaiming Our Homes.â€
Asian Americans’ outrage over a judge’s leniency in the case — the assailants received $3,000 fines and no jail time — sparked a surge of activism seeking tougher hate crime laws nationwide.
He added he neither wanted or expected to be given any leniency.
That same year, Little Al represented Big Al — no, they’re not actually related — at the latter’s sentencing and argued that his client deserved leniency since what he did was common in California politics.
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Related 51³Ô¹Ïs
- compassionÌý
- mercyÌý
- toleranceÌý
When To Use
Leniency is the quality of being lenient—permissive or merciful, as opposed to strict or harsh.When you’re lenient with someone, you go easy on them. The word sometimes implies that maybe you’re going too easy, and should be more strict. On the other hand, if someone thinks a person is being too strict, such as when disciplining a child, they may tell them to be more lenient.A person, an action, or a policy can show or have the quality of leniency. The word is especially used in the context of punishments, especially official ones like prison sentences. In this case, it’s often used to imply that such a punishment is not severe enough in the opinion of the speaker.A less common variant of leniency is lenience.Example: In my opinion, they’ve shown far too much leniency with his punishment—I think he’s getting off too easy.
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