humanitarian vs merciful

humanitarian

adj
  • Concerned with people's welfare, and the alleviation of suffering; compassionate, humane. 

  • Synonym of humanist (“relating to humanism”) 

  • Of or pertaining to the belief that Jesus Christ is fully human and not divine. 

noun
  • A person concerned with people's welfare; a do-gooder or philanthropist. 

  • Synonym of humanist (“a person who believes in the philosophy of humanism”) 

  • One who believes that Jesus Christ is fully human and not divine. 

merciful

adj
  • Showing mercy. 

How often have the words humanitarian and merciful occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )