Definition of "lenient" []

• Inclined not to be harsh or strict; merciful, generous, or indulgent: lenient parents; lenient rules. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Robert Mugabe's cabinet, arose from his criticism of what he called lenient sentences imposed by a High Court judge on three American missionaries for possession of arms."
• "And remember, sometimes that mistake is being too lenient from the beginning."
• "Court reviews 'lenient' sentence for rape court in East China's Zhejiang province will rehear a controversial trial that handed down what the public called a lenient sentence to two"