From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishmeritoriousmer‧i‧to‧ri‧ous /ˌmerəˈtɔːriəs◂/ adjective formal DESERVEvery good and deserving praise
Examples from the Corpus
meritorious• It has absolutely not one thing about it that is meritorious.• Competition is keen and a good honours degree or meritorious performance in an ordinary degree is normally required. 