melioration
Americannoun
-
Historical Linguistics. semantic change in a word to a more approved or more respectable meaning.
noun
Etymology
Origin of melioration
1620–30; < Late Latin meliōrātiōn- (stem of meliōrātiō ), equivalent to meliōrāt ( us ) ( see meliorate) + -iōn- -ion
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.
But professional reformation or melioration is usually an organic, incremental process.
From BusinessWeek ● Nov. 22, 2011
But the seeds from a young tree, having itself the tendency to melioration, are more likely to produce improved sorts.
From American Pomology Apples by J. A. Warder
The present constitution of the Union was formed at a later period than those of the majority of the states, and it may have derived some melioration from past experience.
From American Institutions and Their Influence by Alexis de Tocqueville
We need hardly speak in the language of detestation of this species of obstructiveness, which prevents hundreds of valuable schemes of social melioration from being entered into.
From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 456 Volume 18, New Series, September 25, 1852 by Robert Chambers
In these small communities, which are never agitated by the desire of aggrandizement or the cares of self-defence, all public authority and private energy is employed in internal melioration.
From American Institutions and Their Influence by Alexis de Tocqueville
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
