[
  {
    "word": "merit",
    "phonetic": "/\u02c8m\u025b\u0279\u0259t/",
    "phonetics": [
      {
        "text": "/\u02c8m\u025b\u0279\u0259t/",
        "audio": ""
      },
      {
        "text": "/\u02c8m\u025b\u0279\u0259t/",
        "audio": "https://api.dictionaryapi.dev/media/pronunciations/en/merit-us.mp3",
        "sourceUrl": "https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1749895",
        "license": {
          "name": "BY-SA 3.0",
          "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0"
        }
      }
    ],
    "meanings": [
      {
        "partOfSpeech": "noun",
        "definitions": [
          {
            "definition": "A claim to commendation or a reward.",
            "synonyms": [],
            "antonyms": []
          },
          {
            "definition": "A mark or token of approbation or to recognize excellence.",
            "synonyms": [],
            "antonyms": [
              "demerit"
            ],
            "example": "For her good performance in the examination, her teacher gave her ten merits."
          },
          {
            "definition": "Something deserving or worthy of positive recognition or reward.",
            "synonyms": [
              "excellence",
              "value",
              "worth"
            ],
            "antonyms": [
              "demerit"
            ],
            "example": "His reward for his merit was a check for $50."
          },
          {
            "definition": "The sum of all the good deeds that a person does which determines the quality of the person's next state of existence and contributes to the person's growth towards enlightenment.",
            "synonyms": [],
            "antonyms": [],
            "example": "to acquire or make merit"
          },
          {
            "definition": "Usually in the plural form the merits: the substantive rightness or wrongness of a legal argument, a lawsuit, etc., as opposed to technical matters such as the admissibility of evidence or points of legal procedure; (by extension) the overall good or bad quality, or rightness or wrongness, of some other thing.",
            "synonyms": [],
            "antonyms": [],
            "example": "Even though the plaintiff was ordered by the judge to pay some costs for not having followed the correct procedure, she won the case on the merits."
          },
          {
            "definition": "The quality or state of deserving retribution, whether reward or punishment.",
            "synonyms": [],
            "antonyms": []
          }
        ],
        "synonyms": [
          "excellence",
          "value",
          "worth"
        ],
        "antonyms": [
          "demerit",
          "demerit"
        ]
      },
      {
        "partOfSpeech": "verb",
        "definitions": [
          {
            "definition": "To deserve, to earn.",
            "synonyms": [],
            "antonyms": [],
            "example": "Her performance merited wild applause."
          },
          {
            "definition": "To be deserving or worthy.",
            "synonyms": [],
            "antonyms": [],
            "example": "They were punished as they merited."
          },
          {
            "definition": "To reward.",
            "synonyms": [],
            "antonyms": []
          }
        ],
        "synonyms": [],
        "antonyms": []
      }
    ],
    "license": {
      "name": "CC BY-SA 3.0",
      "url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0"
    },
    "sourceUrls": [
      "https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/merit"
    ]
  }
]