lenity: Dictionary.com Word of the Day /-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-\\ Do you have an idea to patent? Click here for a FREE Inventors Kit from Inventors Helpline. http://by.advertising.com/1/c/62072/45601/158040/158040   AOL users click here  \\-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-/    Word of the Day for Friday March 8, 2002:    lenity \\LEN-uh-tee\\, noun:    The state or quality of being lenient; mildness; gentleness of    treatment; leniency.      The  criminal  suspect  is  pressured by remorse or hope of      lenity or sheer despair to fess up.      --Richard  A. Posner, "Let Them Talk," [1]The New Republic,      August 21, 2000      In this context, severity is justice, lenity injustice.      --Dr  Anthony  Daniels,  "It's  no way to treat a lunatic,"      [2]Sunday Telegraph, December 13, 1998     .  .  .  an  excessive  lenity  toward  criminals,  which      encourages crime.      --Richard  A.  Posner,  "The  Moral  Minority," [3]New York      Times, December 19, 1999      And what makes robbers bold but too much lenity?      --William Shakespeare, Henry VI, part III      _________________________________________________________    Lenity comes from Latin lenitas, from lenis, "soft, mild." References    1. http://www.thenewrepublic.com/    2. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/    3. http://www.nytimes.com/ _._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._ You are currently subscribed to Dictionary.com Word of the Day as:  matt.motley@enron.com To subscribe to the list by email, send a blank message to: join-WordoftheDay@lists.lexico.com To unsubscribe via email, send a blank message to: leave-wordoftheday-357530C@lists.lexico.com Subscriptions can be turned on and off from the Web at http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/list/ Dictionary.com Word of the Day http://www.dictionary.com/wordoftheday/ (C) 2002 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC.