improve
to bring into a more desirable or excellent condition: He took vitamins to improve his health.
to make (land) more useful, profitable, or valuable by enclosure, cultivation, etc.
to increase the value of (real property) by betterments, as the construction of buildings and sewers.
to make good use of; turn to account: He improved the stopover by seeing a client with offices there.
to increase in value, excellence, etc.; become better: The military situation is improving.
to make improvements, as by revision, addition, or change: None of the younger violinists have been able to improve on his interpretation of that work.
Origin of improve
1Other words for improve
Opposites for improve
Other words from improve
- im·prov·a·ble, adjective
- im·prov·a·bil·i·ty, im·prov·a·ble·ness, noun
- im·prov·a·bly, adverb
- im·prov·ing·ly, adverb
- pre·im·prove, verb (used with object), pre·im·proved, pre·im·prov·ing.
- qua·si-im·proved, adjective
- su·per·im·proved, adjective
- well-im·proved, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use improve in a sentence
He was also a charismatic, telegenic speaker with a face improved by plastic surgery several years earlier.
Their authors promise that your spirit will be improved, your ambition honed, and your finances maximized by their advice.
We can also begin to plan our wardrobes to match our new and improved selves.
When certain conditions improved for African-Americans, they mobilized around the knowledge that others had not.
When any design is created, shared and improved freely amongst all, it is open source.
In the evening, we improved our gondoliers' time in rowing leisurely from one point of interest to another.
Glances at Europe | Horace GreeleySo we placed some of these holy relics upon the sick man, at the same time offering our vows for him, and then he improved.
He had improved of late years a little, and he gave me his word that he would be steady.
On the whole, I doubt whether this portion of France has improved much within the last fifty years.
Glances at Europe | Horace GreeleyIf Two Millions more were to leave the country next year, the condition of the remainder would not be essentially improved.
Glances at Europe | Horace Greeley
British Dictionary definitions for improve
/ (ɪmˈpruːv) /
to make or become better in quality; ameliorate
(tr) to make (buildings, land, etc) more valuable by additions or betterment
(intr; usually foll by on or upon) to achieve a better standard or quality in comparison (with): to improve on last year's crop
on the improve Australian informal improving
Origin of improve
1Derived forms of improve
- improvable, adjective
- improvability or improvableness, noun
- improvably, adverb
- improver, noun
- improvingly, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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