What's the difference between merciful and ruthful?

Merciful


Definition:

  • (a.) Full of mercy; having or exercising mercy; disposed to pity and spare offenders; unwilling to punish.
  • (a.) Unwilling to give pain; compassionate.

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.

Ruthful


Definition:

  • (a.) Full of ruth
  • (a.) Pitiful; tender.
  • (a.) Full of sorrow; woeful.
  • (a.) Causing sorrow.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) The Scottish Tory leader, Ruth Davidson, has abandoned plans to call for lower Scottish tax rates after learning that George Osborne is considering far deeper spending cuts.
  • (2) A significant breakthrough has been achieved by Ruth Nussensweig and her colleagues using the techniques of molecular biology.
  • (3) US supreme court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg admitted that her traditional State of the Union nap may have been induced by a glass or two of wine.
  • (4) The transition from the Chipper Jones era to the Upton era is going less than smoothly – Justin, who still has a ways to go to reach his full capabilities, looks like Babe Ruth compared to BJ, who is hitting .179.
  • (5) Ruth Rankine, deputy chief inspector of general practice at the Care Quality Commission, said: “If we find on our inspections that staffing levels are leading to patients receiving unsafe care and treatment, including delays in response times, then we have a range of enforcement powers we can use to ensure that appropriate action is taken.
  • (6) 6.49pm: Ruth Francis, head of press at Nature Publishing Group, also gives the thumbs-up to Scientific American's reporting of the findings .
  • (7) Labour suffered disastrous losses in Scotland, where it slipped to third place behind Ruth Davidson’s Scottish Conservatives.
  • (8) It currently has one woman sitting on it – Sotomayor joins Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
  • (9) Given that the next president could be in a position to replace Supreme Court justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer – two of the members of the razor-thin five-vote majority supporting Roe v Wade – Americans who don’t want to return women to the reproductive dark ages should vote accordingly come November.
  • (10) Chosen by impressive writers and critics – including Elizabeth Bowen, Philip Larkin, George Steiner, Saul Bellow, AS Byatt, Ruth Rendell, John Carey – these shortlists demanded, at least, some respect.
  • (11) Ruth Davidson, the Scottish Tory leader, disclosed that she stayed at the far more budget-minded Travelodge for her party's annual conference in Manchester.
  • (12) Ruth Joseph and Sarah Nathan's crumbly little almond and lemon tarts are the perfect example of its charms, to my mind – not too sweet, not too sour, just intensely, deliciously zesty.
  • (13) John Savage 'We were all cycling, listening to the Smiths' Ruth Martin outside the Salford Lads Club, Salford.
  • (14) It is now the official opposition, boosted by the star quality of the Tory leader Ruth Davidson and Scotland has given the once loathed party of Margaret Thatcher its biggest fillip since the 1950s.
  • (15) She is, therefore, basically the Ruth Evershed (from Spooks) of the ancient world.
  • (16) Chief policy adviser to Greenpeace, Ruth Davis, said: "What this report reminds us is that sudden shifts in global climate will affect our world and our daily lives in chaotic and unusual ways.
  • (17) Ruth Carnall, former chief executive of NHS London.
  • (18) The Scottish Conservatives leader, Ruth Davidson, has raised eyebrows by posting a picture of the actor Gillian Anderson in lingerie on social media.
  • (19) 8.24pm BST "The mood is downright miserable" – defense department education activity employee The Guardian's Ruth Spencer ( @ruths ) is in touch with federal workers affected by the shutdown.
  • (20) Fifteen years ago she was an emerging talent, as were Harriet Hunt and Ruth Sheldon, who both won world girls championships against strong opposition.

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