mercy /ˈmɜːsɪ/ CET4 TEM4

• 1. 

  N-UNCOUNT If someone in authority shows mercy, they choose not to harm someone they have power over, or they forgive someone they have the right to punish. 仁慈; 宽恕

  例：

  Neither side took prisoners or showed any mercy.

  双方都没有抓俘虏，也没有表现出丝毫的仁慈。

• 2. 

  ADJ Mercy is used to describe a special journey to help someone in great need, such as people who are sick or made homeless by war. 善行 [journalism] [ADJ n]

  例：

  She vanished nine months ago while on a mercy mission to West Africa.

  她在9个月前去西非的慈善之旅中消失不见了。

• 3. 

  N-COUNT If you refer to an event or a situation as a mercy, you mean that it makes you feel happy or relieved, usually because it stops something unpleasant from happening. 幸运

  例：

  It really was a mercy that he'd gone so rapidly at the end.

  这真幸运，他最后走得那么快。

• 4. 

  PHRASE If one person or thing is at the mercy of another, the first person or thing is in a situation where they cannot prevent themselves from being harmed or affected by the second. 完全由…支配

  例：

  Buildings are left to decay at the mercy of vandals and the weather.

  这些建筑物因人为的肆意破坏和日晒雨淋而破败不堪。