meritorious
adj.deserving of praise or reward because you did something good or worked very hard. It describes actions or people that are worthy of recognition.
adj.deserving of praise, reward, or recognition; worthy of credit or commendation. Often used in formal or legal contexts to describe actions that are justified or beneficial.
“The committee awarded the meritorious student a special scholarship.”
“The judge noted that the defendant's meritorious defense had prevented a much harsher sentence.”
“The university established a new award to recognize meritorious service among its faculty, encouraging those who go above and beyond their teaching duties to apply.”
“Media denigration of politicians’ personal lives is an obvious deterrent to meritorious candidates.”
From Middle English meritorious, borrowed between 1375 and 1425 from Latin meritōrius (“earning money”), from meritus, past participle of mereō (“to earn”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.