ameliorate
English
WOTD – 7 September 2006
Etymology
Alteration of meliorate after French améliorer.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /əˈmiːli.əɹeɪt/
Audio (US): (file) Audio (General Australian): (file)
Verb
ameliorate (third-person singular simple present ameliorates, present participle ameliorating, simple past and past participle ameliorated)
- (transitive) To make better, or improve, something perceived to be in a negative condition.
- They offered some compromises in an effort to ameliorate the situation.
- 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
- In every human being there is a wish to ameliorate his own condition.
- 2023, Eric Sims, Jing Cynthia Wu, and Ji Zhang, The Four-Equation New Keynesian Model, The Review of Economics and Statistics 105(4), pp. 931--947
- We further show that an implementable rule for the central bank's long bond portfolio significantly ameliorates the adverse consequences of a binding ZLB on the policy rate.
- (intransitive) To become better; improve.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:improve
Antonyms
Derived terms
Related terms
- amelioration
- ameliorative
- ameliorable
- inameliorable
- meliorate
Translations
to make better
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See also
References
- ^ “ameliorate, v.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.