ameliorate
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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ameliorates,
present (3rd person singular)
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ameliorated,
past participle, past
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ameliorating
present participle
verb
Usage
What are other ways to say ameliorate?
To ameliorate is to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory. How is it different from the verbs improve and better? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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ameliorablenessnoun
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ameliorantnoun
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amelioratornoun
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ameliorableadjective
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ameliorativeadjective
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amelioratoryadjective
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unameliorableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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amelioratesimple
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amelioratessimple
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have amelioratedperfect
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has amelioratedperfect
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am amelioratingprogressive
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are amelioratingprogressive
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is amelioratingprogressive
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have been amelioratingperfect progressive
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has been amelioratingperfect progressive
Past
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amelioratedsimple
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had amelioratedperfect
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was amelioratingprogressive
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were amelioratingprogressive
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had been amelioratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ameliorate
Explanation
To ameliorate is to step in and make a bad situation better. You could try introducing a second lollipop to ameliorate a battle between two toddlers over a single lollipop. The verb ameliorate comes from the Latin word meliorare, meaning “improve.” Food drives can ameliorate hunger. An air conditioner can ameliorate the discomfort of a stiflingly hot summer day. A sympathy card can ameliorate grief. Family therapy can ameliorate severe sibling rivalry. Anything that can lift a burden or make something better can ameliorate.
Vocabulary lists containing ameliorate
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Maria Edgeworth argued that education and economic opportunity could ameliorate poverty.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026
Abbott has tried to ameliorate these concerns by requiring all new data centers to be audited by the state, a step that policy experts and Democrats have criticized as insufficient.
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 2026
The biggest risks to birds come from the climate: “Two-thirds of North American birds are at increasing risk of extinction from global temperature rise,” the society reported — a threat that wind power can ameliorate.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 14, 2026
The three paragraphs on Africa at the end spoke about partnering with "select countries to ameliorate conflict, foster mutually beneficial trade relationships" and move from supplying aid to encouraging investment and economic growth.
From BBC ● Feb. 12, 2026
No matter how sedulously Ben and Mary Anne prepared for the nightmare, nothing could ameliorate their discomfort at entering a new high school for their annual pilgrimage among strangers.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
But a strange, melancholic case of timing ameliorates the documentary’s primary flaw: It didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know.
From Salon ● Dec. 19, 2024
"Overall, greater international co-operation is needed to ensure that ESG and climate transition-related practices progress in a manner that ameliorates the current market fragmentation, and strengthens investor confidence and market integrity."
From Reuters ● Oct. 4, 2021
Charity, while wonderful, ameliorates the symptoms of inequality, but it does not address its root causes.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 27, 2020
You say “at first” you turned down their advances, as if that somehow ameliorates your later decision to accept their advances.
From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2019
Misfortunes are, in morals, what bitters are in medicine: each is at first disagreeable; but as the bitters act as corroborants to the stomach, so adversity chastens and ameliorates the disposition.—From the French.
From Many Thoughts of Many Minds A Treasury of Quotations from the Literature of Every Land and Every Age by Louis Klopsch
On that, Buchbinder is optimistic that a key cause of rising rates, higher energy costs, will be ameliorated in coming months.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
The 40-foot elevation drop from the General Hospital forecourt to the commercial hub will be ameliorated by raising the low area about 20 feet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
Mr. Xi could have ameliorated the damage by creating new avenues for productive private investment that would boost productivity and stimulate more domestic demand.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 5, 2026
The judge said his segregation was ameliorated by him being allowed "some three hours per day out of his cell, which is more than twice the time allowed to convicted prisoners held in segregation".
From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2025
When I began work at the bank I knew that much of their suffering would be ameliorated.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
Adding unpaid labor onto one’s daily workload is draining and, provided your domestic partner is open to ameliorating the imbalance, solvable.
From Salon ● Apr. 23, 2026
Whatever you think of their intended goals, they would also have an unintended effect of ameliorating one of the worst features of the property tax: its localism.
From Slate ● Jan. 6, 2025
The $3 million allocation is the first major assistance directed toward ameliorating the spiraling humanitarian crisis since people first began arriving at the church last December.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 6, 2023
The researchers employed a novel computational method developed earlier by Morgun and Shulzhenko, transkingdom network analysis, to uncover TXN's mechanism for ameliorating metabolic syndrome.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 21, 2023
She had a notion about the air down here and its ameliorating effects on the circulation.
From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
