Lenient means gentler in punishment than expected. A lenient sentence, too lenient, lenient treatment.
It is nearly always used with a comparison in mind — lenient against what somebody thought was deserved — which is why the same sentence is called lenient by one side and harsh by the other. It applies to judges, referees, examiners and parents. Note leniency, the noun; and that the Latin behind it means softening, from lenis, soft, which is also where lenition comes from in linguistics.
1adjectivelenientGentler in punishment than expected.
“The judge was lenient and gave the young thief community service instead of prison.”
synonyms: merciful, indulgent
lenient is a quality of mildness.
Also accepted in games: soft, merciful
Latin leniens is the present participle of lenire, to soften, from lenis, soft. Lenity and the linguistic term lenition come from the same softening.
Latin
lēniēns
Middle French
lénient
English, today
lenient
Built from
From Middle French lénient, from Latin lēniēns (whence -i- + -ent), present participle of lēnīre (“to soften, soothe”), from lēnis (“soft”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA