deserve

deserve, merit, earn, rate mean to be or become worthy of something as recompense whether by way of reward or punishment.

Deserve implies a just claim which entitles one to something good or evil, usually on the ground of actions done or qualities shown; it does not necessarily imply that the claim has been won or recognized

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when at your hands did I deserve this scorn?— Shak.

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that he should be supported at the public expense as one who had deserved well of his country— Dickinson

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it is largely owing to his insight and enthusiasm, as well as to his editorial toil, that the Tudor translators have become recognized as they deserve— T. S. Eliot

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Merit is so close a synonym of deserve that it is often used interchangeably with it without loss. Even so, slight differences in meaning may be detected. Merit, although it implies a just claim, seldom suggests that the claim has been urged by oneself or another, a connotation that is not essential to but may often be found in deserve; merit also more often implies qualities of character, of life, or of action that entitle one to reward or punishment

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give him the words of praise that he merits

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he merited a reproof, but he did not deserve dismissal

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a compliment... to the grandeur of the family, merited by the manner in which the family has sustained its grandeur— Dickens

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Earn may suggest a due correspondence between the efforts exerted or the time or energy spent and the recompense that ensues; it fundamentally implies a deserving or meriting as well as a getting and therefore may suggest a return in evil as well as in good

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"Indeed, he hath an excellent good name." "His excellence did earn it, ere he had it"— Shak.

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an active, ardent mind ... a generous spirit, and a body strong . . . had earned for him sure welcome— Wordsworth

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his devotion to self-interest has earned for him nothing but contempt

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Rate implies recognition of deserts or merits usually upon a carefully calculated basis, but it does not carry any suggestion of whether what is deserved or merited has been given

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he rates a promotion

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the magazine rates our support

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Analogous words: gain, win, *get: evaluate, value, *estimate: claim, *demand