Noun

(en noun)

(senseid) A quality of being inadequate; a fault; a disadvantage

* Burke

They see no merit or demerit in any man or any action.

* Sir W. Temple

Secure, unless forfeited by any demerit or offense.

A mark given for bad conduct to a person attending an educational institution or serving in the army.

*2002 , , by G.W.Bush:

*:A few of you have followed in the path of the perfect West Point graduate, Robert E. Lee, who never received a single demerit' in four years. Some of you followed in the path of the imperfect graduate, Ulysses S. Grant, who had his fair share of ' demerits , and said the happiest day of his life was "the day I left West Point." (Laughter.)

That which one merits or deserves, either of good or ill; desert.

* Holland

By many benefits and demerits whereby they obliged their adherents, [they] acquired this reputation.

Noun

(en noun)

(obsolete) A defect or failing; moral or spiritual degeneracy.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1 , passage=In the old days, to my commonplace and unobserving mind, he gave no evidences of genius whatsoever. He never read me any of his manuscripts, […], and therefore my lack of detection of his promise may in some degree be pardoned.}}

A deficiency or need (of something desirable or necessary); an absence, want.

* Shakespeare

Let his lack of years be no impediment.

* 1994 , (Green Day),

I went to a shrink, to analyze my dreams. He said it's lack of sex that's bringing me down.''

* {{quote-news, year=2012, date=September 7, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC Sport

, title= Moldova 0-5 England , passage=If Moldova harboured even the slightest hopes of pulling off a comeback that would have bordered on miraculous given their lack of quality, they were snuffed out 13 minutes before the break when Oxlade-Chamberlain picked his way through midfield before releasing Defoe for a finish that should have been dealt with more convincingly by Namasco at his near post.}}