ameliorate

WOTD – 7 September 2006    

English

Etymology

Influenced by French améliorer and Latin a- (“to”) + melior (“better”).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /əˈmiːliəreɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

ameliorate (third-person singular simple present ameliorates, present participle ameliorating, simple past and past participle ameliorated)

1. (transitive) To make better, to improve; to heal; to solve a problem.

   They offered some compromises in an effort to ameliorate the situation.

   • Macaulay

     In every human being there is a wish to ameliorate his own condition.

Synonyms

• See also Wikisaurus:improve

Related terms

• amelioration
• meliorate

Translations

to make better

• Bulgarian: подобрявам (bg) (podobrjavam)
• Chinese: 改善
• Czech: zlepšit (cs)
• Dutch: verbeteren (nl), amelioreren (nl)
• Finnish: parantaa (fi), kohentaa (fi)
• French: améliorer (fr)
• German: verbessern (de)

• Italian: migliorare (it)
• Japanese: よくなる( yokunaru) , 改善する( kaizen suru )
• Kurdish: baş (ku) kirin, qenc (ku) kirin, çê (ku) kirin, çak (ku) kirin, sax (ku) kirin
• Portuguese: aperfeiçoar (pt), melhorar (pt)
• Russian: улучша́ть (ru) (ulučšátʹ) impf., улу́чшить (ru) (ulúčšitʹ) pf.
• Spanish: mejorar (es)
• Swedish: förbättra (sv)
• Turkish: iyileştirmek (tr)