What's the difference between grace and mercy?

Grace


Definition:

  • (n.) The exercise of love, kindness, mercy, favor; disposition to benefit or serve another; favor bestowed or privilege conferred.
  • (n.) The divine favor toward man; the mercy of God, as distinguished from His justice; also, any benefits His mercy imparts; divine love or pardon; a state of acceptance with God; enjoyment of the divine favor.
  • (n.) The prerogative of mercy execised by the executive, as pardon.
  • (n.) The same prerogative when exercised in the form of equitable relief through chancery.
  • (n.) Fortune; luck; -- used commonly with hard or sorry when it means misfortune.
  • (n.) Inherent excellence; any endowment or characteristic fitted to win favor or confer pleasure or benefit.
  • (n.) Beauty, physical, intellectual, or moral; loveliness; commonly, easy elegance of manners; perfection of form.
  • (n.) Graceful and beautiful females, sister goddesses, represented by ancient writers as the attendants sometimes of Apollo but oftener of Venus. They were commonly mentioned as three in number; namely, Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia, and were regarded as the inspirers of the qualities which give attractiveness to wisdom, love, and social intercourse.
  • (n.) The title of a duke, a duchess, or an archbishop, and formerly of the king of England.
  • (n.) Thanks.
  • (n.) A petition for grace; a blessing asked, or thanks rendered, before or after a meal.
  • (n.) Ornamental notes or short passages, either introduced by the performer, or indicated by the composer, in which case the notation signs are called grace notes, appeggiaturas, turns, etc.
  • (n.) An act, vote, or decree of the government of the institution; a degree or privilege conferred by such vote or decree.
  • (n.) A play designed to promote or display grace of motion. It consists in throwing a small hoop from one player to another, by means of two sticks in the hands of each. Called also grace hoop or hoops.
  • (v. t.) To adorn; to decorate; to embellish and dignify.
  • (v. t.) To dignify or raise by an act of favor; to honor.
  • (v. t.) To supply with heavenly grace.
  • (v. t.) To add grace notes, cadenzas, etc., to.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Though the 54-year-old designer made brief returns to the limelight after his fall from grace, designing a one-off collection for Oscar de la Renta last year , his appointment at Margiela marks a more permanent comeback.
  • (2) Grace has no capacity so she will be very mechanised.” This week Robert Mugabe described Mujuru, his vice-president of a decade, as too simplistic .
  • (3) So much of England possesses this grace and silence.
  • (4) The talk coming from senior Tories – at least some of whom have the grace to squirm when questioned on this topic – suggesting that it's all terribly complicated, that it was a long time ago and that even SS members were, in some ways, themselves victims, is uncomfortably close to the kind of prattle we used to hear from those we called Holocaust revisionists.
  • (5) Additional research: Suzie Worroll, James Browning, Grace Nzita and Nicolas Niarchos How do you feel about the representation of women in British public life?
  • (6) Grace's ascent has also thrown a grenade into the bitter succession battle within Zanu-PF, which Mugabe has divided and ruled for decades.
  • (7) Comet Hale-Bopp graced the night skies in 1997 and was easily visible to the naked eye for months.
  • (8) A s the protests in Turkey continue , spare a thought for the man whose personal tragedy few have the grace to acknowledge – Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
  • (9) With commendable alacrity, meanwhile, the developers at art-game co-operative KOOPmode have already released a downloadable satire on how Facebook might work in 3D , graced with the irresistible tagline: "Scroll Facebook … with your face".
  • (10) It is a fall from grace for an Arsenal team who were top of the table at the turn of the year.
  • (11) My hope is that those who are at the Games take these words and let them echo, with grace, courage and dignity, in whatever way they choose to, because it will make a difference to those participating, and to those watching.
  • (12) In his enforced absence following a dramatic fall from grace that symbolises many of the ills of football’s culture of entitlement, France will be hoping football can again bring the nation together in the most straitened of times.
  • (13) The bomb threat tweet was sent to Freeman, the Europe editor of Time magazine, Catherine Mayer, and the Independent columnist Grace Dent, who took a screen grab of the tweet and posted it for her Twitter followers to see .
  • (14) Waitrose evokes strong opinions: from sniffy derision about the supermarket's perceived airs and graces to expressions of joy from middle-class incomers when their gentrified area is blessed with a branch.
  • (15) Grace Coddington, Dame Helen Mirren, Laura Mvula, and Karen Elson, in the pink duster coat that proved so popular for M&S.
  • (16) The prayer appeals for “grace to debate the issues in this referendum with honesty and openness”.
  • (17) Once he gets that power, he starts relishing that side of his personality.” Claflin is an earthy, unassuming sort; even acting hasn’t given him airs and graces.
  • (18) They wasted an opportunity to show the same grace as Caroline Lucas, by joining an alliance in a seat they would never win.
  • (19) The spectacular ascent that saw him grace the cover of Newsweek as Asian of the Year and become the heir apparent of then prime minister Mahathir Mohamad was met with an equally spectacular crash in 1998, when the two fell out and Anwar was imprisoned for six years on corruption and sodomy charges, claims he repeatedly dismissed as politically motivated.
  • (20) The acarajé at this five-square-metre hole-in-the-wall joint at the top of a bar-packed street close to Mackenzie University are served with grace, charm and warm smiles by Fátima and Miri de Castro.

Mercy


Definition:

  • (n.) Forbearance to inflict harm under circumstances of provocation, when one has the power to inflict it; compassionate treatment of an offender or adversary; clemency.
  • (n.) Compassionate treatment of the unfortunate and helpless; sometimes, favor, beneficence.
  • (n.) Disposition to exercise compassion or favor; pity; compassion; willingness to spare or to help.
  • (n.) A blessing regarded as a manifestation of compassion or favor.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The law and justice minister, Anisul Huq, said the 73-year-old leader was hanged after he refused to seek mercy from the country’s president.
  • (2) But if May rushes headlong into a panicked triggering of article 50 without a clear idea of what she wants out of negotiations, she will have left us at the mercy of 27 countries who have heard little but table-thumping and empty threats from ministers.
  • (3) He called for care for the environment to be added to the seven spiritual works of mercy outlined in the Gospel that the faithful are asked to perform throughout the pope’s year of mercy in 2016.
  • (4) But Ruby Tweedie, another local resident, said: "There have been so many doubts about his guilt that it's only fair that the man, who has only a few months to live, should be shown mercy."
  • (5) Constant ribbing about his private life was compromising Deayton's position as the show's "holier-than-thou" host, who showed no mercy towards politicians or celebrities caught in a similar position, the corporation added.
  • (6) The 70-year-old describes a life of comfortable detachment from mainstream society, but with long periods in which he and his 74-year-old wife, Shin-yeol, are at the mercy of the elements.
  • (7) We're kind of at Mother Nature's mercy at this point," said Tom Kruschke, another fire department spokesman .
  • (8) Without him, we were at the mercy of increasingly nervous investors, and our Hollywood film-making future hung in the balance.
  • (9) Students of privatisation over the years have learnt to be grateful for small mercies.
  • (10) The mayor is a good person, but no one invited him, certainly not officially … The pope was furious.” While the prank provided fodder to critics of the mayor, it also underscored a more serious issue between the Vatican and Rome just a few months ahead of the church’s jubilee year of mercy, which begins on 8 December.
  • (11) The only mercy was they would have known little about it.
  • (12) After Hollande spent two hours on French radio in a patent relaunch of his presidency, a film producer announced that a biopic of Trierweiler’s revenge memoir, Merci Pour Ce Moment (Thank You For This Moment), is now in the works.
  • (13) Hunt replied: "Merci hopefully when consultation over we can have coffee like old days!"
  • (14) "The legal system has lost all sense of mercy and justice and it has been replaced with punitiveness and vindictiveness," Stinebrickner-Kauffman told Mail Online .
  • (15) If Whittingdale had any honour, any mercy, and any basic human decency, he would murder David Attenborough himself today, in his bed, to spare him any further suffering.
  • (16) It was not something that was talked about.” Thomson added: “It was mercifully quick and I remember first of all feeling surprise, then fear, then horror as I realised I quite simply couldn’t escape – because he was stronger than me, and there was no sense even initially of any sexual desire from him, which I suppose, looking back, again I find odd.” The MP said she had felt “absolutely numbed” and ashamed but told no one about the incident.
  • (17) Several survivors and family members of the victims who were flown to the US testified this week , and one cursed Bales for attacking villagers as some slept and others screamed for mercy.
  • (18) This meant that if the rebels started abusing people, the Misca would withdraw, leaving the civilian population at their mercy.
  • (19) Sitting in a side street listening to the sound of loud blasts and gunfire emanating from Nariman House, Rakash Bhaud, the local leader of the far-right Hindu party Shiv Sena, blamed the central government for the failures that, he said, had left them at the mercy of Pakistan-backed terrorists.
  • (20) More emphasis on mercy is needed in this case, surely, and less on killing.