amelioration

See also: amélioration

English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English amelioracioun, from Middle French amelioracion and probably partly ameliorate +‎ -ion.[1]

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /əˌmiːliəˈɹeɪʃən/
  • Audio (Southern England):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

Examples (linguistics)
  • Middle English nyce (“foolish”) → English nice (“kind”)

amelioration (countable and uncountable, plural ameliorations)

  1. The act of making better.
    Antonym: deterioration
    • 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XXXII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 262:
      The tumult was over, and all things returned to their old place; and the abuse remained without remedy, and the wrong without redress. Ah! if the doctrine of amelioration be true, what a mighty debt does the future owe to the past!
  2. An improvement.
    Synonym: revamp
  4. (linguistics) The process by which a term gains a more positive connotation over time.
    Antonym: pejoration
  5. (philosophy) An ameliorative change of a concept or a repertoire of concepts.
    pre-amelioration
    post-amelioration

Descendants

  • → Malay: ameliorasi

Translations

References

  1. ^ “amelioration, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.
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