mair-ih-TOR-ee-us
Definition
(adjective) Deserving praise or reward on the basis of genuine effort, skill, or achievement.
Example
The meritorious work of the research team went unrecognized for years before a junior colleague finally submitted it for the award it had always deserved.
Word Origin
Meritorious derives from the Latin meritorius, meaning “that by which money is earned,” rooted in merere — “to earn” or “to deserve.” The same root gives us merit, meritocracy, and emeritus — all words built around the idea of something earned rather than given. It entered English in the 15th century, initially used in theological contexts to describe acts worthy of divine reward before expanding into its broader secular sense of anything genuinely deserving of recognition.
Fun Fact
The concept of meritocracy — a system in which advancement is based purely on merit — was actually coined as a satirical warning rather than an ideal. British sociologist Michael Young invented the term in his 1958 dystopian novel The Rise of the Meritocracy, intended as a critique of a society so obsessed with measurable achievement that it discards anyone who falls short. Young was reportedly horrified when politicians began using his invented word approvingly, as though meritocracy were something to aspire to rather than fear. He spent the rest of his life arguing that a system that rewards only the meritorious is just as cruel as one that rewards only the privileged — because it tells everyone who doesn’t succeed that they have no one to blame but themselves.
