This is the 10740th most frequent French word.
mérités
"Deserved."
Here, 'méritées' is used as a past participle of the verb 'mériter', meaning 'to deserve'. It agrees in gender and number with the subject 'les récompenses'.
Les récompenses étaient bien méritées par les élèves.
The rewards were well deserved by the students.
'Méritées' here serves as an adjective modifying 'félicitations', again showing agreement in gender and number.
Il a reçu des félicitations méritées pour son travail acharné.
He received well-deserved congratulations for his hard work.
In this sentence, 'mérité' is singular masculine matching 'succès', acting as a past participle functioning adjectivally.