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Definition
less strict or more tolerant than might be expected- And you, being a good man, can pass it as such, and forgive and pity the dreamer, and be lenient and encouraging when he wakes?Charles Dickens -- Bleak House
- I'm not asking for acquittal, or even leniency, but I am asking for fairness.Chris Crutcher -- Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes
- Your case is cut and dried and there is no question of leniency.Pat Conroy -- The Lords of Discipline
- That he would be leniently treated, I could not hope.Charles Dickens -- Great Expectations
- They would be lenient— "I can never come back to the Clave," he said with a hard satisfaction.Cassandra Clare -- City of Lost Souls
- Just now, though, you are in need of some of that leniency, it seems to me.George R.R. Martin -- A Feast For Crows
- The next day, some said it was God, punishing the town for its leniency.Rick Bragg -- All Over but the Shoutin'
- I will, however, recommend leniency on the charges of possession and intent to distribute.J.D. Robb -- Immortal in Death
- The judges of the dead wouldn't be lenient to her a second time.Rick Riordan -- The Son of Neptune
- Be not always strict, nor yet always lenient, but observe a mean between these two extremes, for in that is the aim of wisdom.Miguel de Cervantes -- Don Quixote
- Assuming an aggressive, sneering manner that seemed forced, for really he is a mild and lenient man, Smith asked the witness if he had a nickname.Truman Capote -- In Cold Blood
- But you didn't even stand up and ask us for a lenient sentence.Jodi Picoult -- Change of Heart
- If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here who may be more successful.Arthur Conan Doyle -- The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes
- I grant you a leniency that others don't enjoy.Frank Beddor -- The Looking Glass Wars
- She had offered them rewards, promised leniency, honors, gold, positions at court.George R.R. Martin -- A Dance With Dragons
- After each session, Santiclo is supposed to collect them, but he's pretty lenient with us.Julia Alvarez -- In the Time of the Butterflies
- Break curfew again and we won't be so lenient!J.K. Rowling -- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
- It matters little now, except as it may dispose you to think more leniently of his errors.'Charles Dickens -- Hard Times
- He has given us two weeks' time in which to go, which is lenient.Kamala Markandaya -- Nectar in a Sieve
- Moreover, recent disorders showed that Authority had been too lenient.Robert A. Heinlein -- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress