lenient

adjective

le·​nient ˈlē-nē-ənt 

-nyənt

1

: of mild and tolerant disposition or effect : not harsh, severe, or strict

lenient laws

a lenient attitude

2

: exerting a soothing or easing influence : relieving pain or stress

leniently adverb

Did you know?

If you’ve ever had a peaceful, easy feeling—perhaps brought on by someone who you know won’t let you down—then you’ll have no problem understanding the earliest meaning of lenient. When it entered English in the mid-1600s, lenient described something soothing—such as a medication—that relieved pain or stress, or otherwise enabled someone to take it easy. For a brief window of time it was even used as a noun, referring to any of various ointments and balms that help heal wounds in the long run. Lenient comes from the Latin verb lenire, meaning “to soften or soothe,” which in turn comes from the adjective lenis, meaning “soft or mild.” The “soothing or easing” sense of lenient is still in use today, but English speakers are more likely to apply it to someone who is lax with the rules (as in “a lenient professor”), who doesn’t mind when someone acts like a certain kind of fool or takes it to the limit one more time.

Examples of lenient in a Sentence

By giving one more person—the executive—the power to reduce (but not to increase) punishments, our constitutions (both Federal and state) seem to be sending an important message: that in a world in which errors are inevitable, it is better to err on the side of overly lenient, rather than overly harsh, punishment. —Alan M. Dershowitz, New York Times Book Review, 16 July 1989

He could trust himself, he said … to be more lenient than perhaps his father had been to himself; his danger, he said … would be rather in the direction of being too indulgent … —Samuel Butler, The Way of All Flesh, 1903

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. —Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre, 1847

a teacher who is lenient with students who have misbehaved

Many people felt that the punishment was too lenient.

Recent Examples on the Web

Instead, Trump received an unconditional discharge, a rare and lenient sentence that reflected the practical and constitutional impossibility of jailing a man who is set to become president in just 10 days. —Matthew Cullen, New York Times, 10 Jan. 2025

Donald Trump's punishment in his hush money case is unusually lenient for a felony conviction, a New York defense attorney has told Newsweek. —Sean O'Driscoll, Newsweek, 9 Jan. 2025

Too often, startups take a very lenient approach to defining addressable markets, which signals to investors the lack of understanding of the market on the part of the management team. —Expert Panel®, Forbes, 18 Dec. 2024

The case has long been viewed as a cautionary tale about government overreach in the digital asset space, with the severity of Ulbricht's original sentence standing in stark contrast to the more lenient treatment of other defendants highlighted in Senator Paul's letter. —Boaz Sobrado, Forbes, 22 Jan. 2025

Word History

Etymology

Latin lenient-, leniens, present participle of lenire to soften, soothe, from lenis soft, mild; probably akin to Lithuanian lėnas tranquil — more at let entry 1

First Known Use

1652, in the meaning defined at sense 2

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Kids Definition

lenient

adjective

le·​nient ˈlē-nē-ənt 

-nyənt

: being kind and patient

leniently adverb