lenient

English

Etymology

From Middle French lénient, from Latin lēniēns, present participle of lēnīre (“to soften, soothe”), from lēnis (“soft”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈliːni.ənt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

lenient (comparative more lenient, superlative most lenient)

1. Lax; not strict; tolerant of dissent or deviation.

   The standard is fairly lenient, so use your discretion.

   • 1847 October 16, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter XVIII, in Jane Eyre. An Autobiography. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder, and Co., […], →OCLC:

     But in other points, as well as this, I was growing very lenient to my master; I was forgetting all his faults, for which I had once kept a sharp look-out. It had formerly been my endeavour to study all sides of his character; to take the bad with the good; and from the just weighing of both, to form an equitable judgment. Now I saw no bad.

Synonyms

• lax
• permissive
• forgiving

Antonyms

• strict
• severe
• stringent
• unlenient

Derived terms

• leniently
• unlenient

Related terms

• lenience
• leniency
• lenity

Translations

tolerant; not strict

• Belarusian: паблажлівы (pablažlivy), нястрогі (njastróhi), памяркоўны (pamjarkóŭny), спагадлівы (be) (spahadlivy)
• Bulgarian: снизходителен (bg) (snizhoditelen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 宽大 (zh) (kuāndà), 宽松 (zh) (kuānsōng)

• Czech: shovívavý m
• Dutch: toegeeflijk (nl), tolerant (nl), mild (nl)
• Esperanto: malsevera
• Finnish: lempeä (fi)
• French: indulgent (fr), permissif (fr), laxiste (fr)
• Georgian: ლმობიერი (lmobieri)
• German: nachsichtig (de)
• Indonesian: lunak (id)
• Italian: permissivo (it), tollerante (it), indulgente (it)
• Latin: clēmēns
• Macedonian: по́пустлив (pópustliv), сни́сходлив (sníshodliv)
• Maori: ngāwari
• Occitan: tolerant (oc), permissiu (oc)
• Plautdietsch: lind
• Portuguese: leniente (pt)
• Romanian: tolerant (ro) m or n, tolerantă f, indulgent (ro) m or n, blând (ro) m or n, îngăduitor (ro) m or n
• Russian: снисходи́тельный (ru) (snisxodítelʹnyj), мя́гкий (ru) (mjáxkij), терпи́мый (ru) (terpímyj)
• Scottish Gaelic: tròcaireach
• Serbo-Croatian: popustljiv (sh)
• Spanish: tolerante (es), laxo (es), leniente (archaic, Peru), de manga ancha
• Swedish: skonsam (sv)
• Turkish: hoşgörülü (tr), müsamahakâr, müşfik (tr)
• Ukrainian: невимо́гливий (nevymóhlyvyj), виба́чливий (vybáčlyvyj)

Noun

lenient (plural lenients)

1. (medicine) A lenitive; an emollient.

Further reading

• “lenient”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “lenient”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
• “lenient”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Latin

Verb

lēnient

1. third-person plural future active indicative of lēniō