Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The act or process of improving something or the state of being improved.
- noun An improvement.
- noun The linguistic process by which a word over a period of time grows more elevated in meaning or more positive in connotation.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The act or process of making or becoming better; improvement; amelioration.
- noun plural In Scots law, improvements made by a tenant upon the property which he rents, and for which he is in certain cases entitled to compensation from the landlord.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun The act or operation of meliorating, or the state of being meliorated; improvement.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun archaic An
improvement ,betterment oramelioration - noun linguistics The process in which a
term gains a morepositive connotation over time
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun the act of relieving ills and changing for the better
- noun a condition superior to an earlier condition
- noun the linguistic process in which over a period of time a word grows more positive in connotation or more elevated in meaning
Etymologies
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Examples
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Instances, rare instances, of such "melioration" and of such "schools of instruction," I doubt not there have been: but, I am confident, that the
The Anti-Slavery Examiner, Omnibus American Anti-Slavery Society
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Always the opponent of sane social reforms which Socialists deride as "melioration" or as futile attempts to shore up an obsolete system, it has consistently disassociated itself from such men as Lord Shaftesbury, who did more to better the conditions of the working classes than anyone who has ever lived.
Secret Societies And Subversive Movements Nesta H. Webster 1918
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You might perhaps say "melioration," but "improvement" is the proper word. '
Life of Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen — Volume 1 Sarah Tytler 1870
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The various terms they have tried -- "Islamic extremism," "Islamism," "Islamofascism" -- have fallen short of both clarity and melioration.
'Islamic Supremacy' 2009
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James G. Frazer, in "The G.lden Bough," demonstrated that the connection between charismatic leadership and the melioration of suffering was historically a close one: many primitive peoples believed that the magical virtues of a priest-king could guarantee the soil's fertility and that such a leader could therefore alleviate one of the most elementary forms of suffering, hunger.
Barack Obama, Shaman 2008
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The various terms they have tried -- "Islamic extremism," "Islamism," "Islamofascism" -- have fallen short of both clarity and melioration.
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On the binary-melioration scale, the digicognizence of the most promising genus (locally referred to as Homo Sapiens Sapiens) has progressed from 6 (see report Sol-4960) to the current value of 21.
365 tomorrows » 2005 » November : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2005
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What does seem surprising is that in Academe, unlike “Real Life” continuing experience and maturation does not produce the melioration of radical viewpoints.
The Volokh Conspiracy » Interesting Study on Professors’ Ideology: 2007
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On the binary-melioration scale, the digicognizence of the most promising genus (locally referred to as Homo Sapiens Sapiens) has progressed from 6 (see report Sol-4960) to the current value of 21.
365 tomorrows » Sol-5210 : A New Free Flash Fiction SciFi Story Every Day 2005
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But Aristotle seems to be against this opinion, who hath observed that oil grows sweeter by being kept in vessels not exactly filled, and afterwards ascribes this melioration to the air; for more air, and therefore more powerful to produce the effect, flows into a vessel not well filled.
recombinantdna commented on the word melioration
"Yes, personally speaking too, art heightens life. She gives deeper joy, she consumes more swiftly," -Death in Venice, Thomas Mann
February 4, 2010