From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlenientle‧ni‧ent /ˈliːniənt/ adjective STRICTnot strict in the way you punish someone or in the standard you expect the lenient sentences handed down by some judges School examiners say that marking has become more lenient in recent years. —leniently adverb —leniency, lenience noun [uncountable] the trend towards greater leniency for most offenders
Examples from the Corpus
lenient• The prosecution lawyer challenged the sentence as being unduly lenient.• In the mid 1970s Soviet emigration policies became more lenient.• Many argue that such an appeal by the Crown against too lenient a sentence is simply not cricket.• After a hundred miles he grew lenient and took out bread-and-butter sandwiches from the back of the car.• The younger teachers generally had a more lenient attitude towards their students.• He was given a comparatively lenient fine.• He will press for stricter, not more lenient, pollution controls.• That is a nearly four-fold increase over the number who lost out under the old, more lenient rules.• a very lenient sentence• Some police officers have criticized judges for being too lenient with car thieves and burglars.• With regard to crimes that are known about, the police and courts may be more lenient with female offenders.• His parents are too lenient with him.• People say she was lenient with me.Origin lenient (1600-1700) Latin present participle of lenire “to soften” 