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Merit vs Owe - What's the difference?

merit | owe |

As a proper noun merit

is .

As a verb owe is

to be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.

merit

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • Something deserving positive recognition.
  • His reward for his merit was a check for $50.
  • Something worthy of a high rating.
  • A claim to commendation or reward.
  • The quality of deserving reward.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Reputation is oft got without merit , and lost without deserving.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • To him the wit of Greece and Rome was known, / And every author's merit , but his own.
  • Reward deserved; any mark or token of excellence or approbation.
  • His teacher gave him ten merits .
  • * Prior
  • those laurel groves, the merits of thy youth
  • (obsolete) The quality or state of deserving either good or bad; desert.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Be it known, that we, the greatest, are misthought / For things that others do; and when we fall, / We answer others' merits in our name.

    Synonyms

    * (l) * (l)

    Antonyms

    * (l)

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To earn or to deserve.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=Although the Celebrity was almost impervious to sarcasm, he was now beginning to exhibit visible signs of uneasiness, the consciousness dawning upon him that his eccentricity was not receiving the ovation it merited .}}
  • To be worthy or deserving.
  • (obsolete, rare) To reward.
  • (Chapman)

    Derived terms

    * (l) * (l) * (l) * (l)

    Anagrams

    * ----

    owe

    English

    Verb

    (ow)
  • To be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.
  • *1854 , Dickens, Hard Times , Chapter 7:
  • *:He inherited a fair fortune from his uncle, but owed it all before he came into it, and spent it twice over immediately afterwards.
  • To have debt, to be in debt.
  • Usage notes

    * The original past tense form was ought, which during Middle English began to be used with indefinite signification and has become a distinct verb. The original past participle has become the adjective own.

    Anagrams

    *