Synonyms of lenient

lenient

adjective

as in sympathetic

allowing a lot of freedom and not punishing bad behavior in a strong way

a teacher who is lenient with students who have misbehaved

The public was outraged by the lenient sentence the corrupt banker received.

Related Words

• sympathetic
• compassionate
• friendly
• merciful
• forgiving
• pleasant
• patient
• gentle
• generous
• benevolent
• kind
• forbearing
• kindly
• good
• humane
• mild
• gracious
• considerate
• soft
• attentive
• thoughtful
• kindhearted
• beneficent
• benignant
• solicitous
• nice
• benign
• sweet
• tender
• softhearted
• tolerant
• clement
• warm
• good-natured
• understanding
• liberal
• good-hearted
• affable
• pitying
• companionable
• amicable
• genial
• cordial
• warmhearted
• neighborly
• charitable
• tenderhearted
• comradely
• magnanimous
• good-tempered
• humanitarian
• altruistic
• munificent
• unselfish
• philanthropic
• selfless
• unsparing
• noble
• brotherly
• openhearted
• freehanded
• greathearted
• anticruelty
• cruelty-free

Dissimilar Words

• strict
• severe
• harsh
• tough
• stern
• grim
• ruthless
• merciless
• pitiless
• insensitive
• thoughtless
• inconsiderate
• uncaring
• heavy-handed
• malignant
• malicious
• mean
• unthinking
• hateful
• spiteful
• virulent
• malevolent
• malign
• cruel
• nasty
• brutal
• uncharitable
• unkind
• vicious
• savage
• unsympathetic
• callous
• sadistic
• ironhearted
• inhuman
• barbarous
• barbaric
• atrocious
• inhumane
• heartless
• stonyhearted
• brutish
• truculent
• unfeeling
• brute
• fiendish
• bestial
• insensate
• unkindly
• uncompassionate
• antihumanitarian
• hard-hearted
• cold-blooded
• wanton

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of lenient

The reprimand stemmed from a press release following Paden’s sentencing in which Zahnd identified members of the Dearborn community who had asked the judge to be lenient with Paden. — Matthew Kelly, Kansas City Star, 18 Sep. 2026

Maybe the judge will be lenient and agree that his early guilty pleas, plus an absence of previous convictions, should spare him. — Daniel Taylor, New York Times, 16 Sep. 2026

Considered too lenient toward the Germans, Marie-Adelaide abdicated in January 1919 in favor of her sister, Charlotte. — Giorgia Olivieri, Vanity Fair, 28 Aug. 2026

The allegations against Tran have led to other murder convictions being overturned, dismissals and relatively lenient plea deals in other cases. — Nate Gartrell, Mercury News, 21 Aug. 2026

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