Deserved vs Acceptable - What's the difference?
deserved | acceptable | Related terms |
(deserve)
To be entitled to, as a result of past actions; to be worthy to have.
:After playing so well, the team really deserved their win .
:After what he did, he deserved to go to prison .
:This argument deserves a closer examination.
*Bible, Job xi. 6
*:God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth .
*Thackeray
*:John Gay deserved to be a favourite.
(obsolete) To earn, win.
*1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.vii:
*:That gentle Lady, whom I loue and serue, / After long suit and weary seruicis, / Did aske me, how I could her loue deserue , / And how she might be sure, that I would neuer swerue.
(obsolete) To reward, to give in return for service.
*:
*:Gramercy saide the kynge / & I lyue sir Lambegus I shal deserue hit / And thenne sir Lambegus armed hym / and rode after as fast as he myghte
(obsolete) To serve; to treat; to benefit.
*Massinger
*:A man that hath / So well deserved me.
Capable, worthy, or sure of being accepted or received with pleasure; pleasing to a receiver; gratifying; agreeable; welcome; as, an acceptable'' present, one ''acceptable to us.
Barely worthy, less than excellent; passable.
