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• reformed
  reformed

  adjective

  amended by removal of faults, abuses, etc.
• Reformed
  Reformed

  adjective

  of or designating a Protestant Church, esp the Calvinist as distinct from the Lutheran

reformed

American  

[ri-fawrmd] / rɪˈfɔrmd /

adjective

1. amended by removal of faults, abuses, etc.

2. improved in conduct, morals, etc.

3. (initial capital letter) noting or pertaining to Protestant churches, especially Calvinist as distinguished from Lutheran.

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Reformed British  

/ rɪˈfɔːmd /

adjective

1. of or designating a Protestant Church, esp the Calvinist as distinct from the Lutheran

2. of or designating Reform Judaism

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Other Word Forms

• pseudoreformed
  adjective
• quasi-reformed
  adjective
• reformedly
  adverb
• unreformed
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of reformed

First recorded in 1555–65; reform + -ed ²

Explanation

Someone who's reformed is changed in a positive way. A reformed bully has stopped shoving smaller kids around and makes a point of treating everyone kindly. A reformed prison system would be one that has eliminated controversial punishments like solitary confinement, and a reformed group of military rebels might form a peaceful political party. Sometimes you'll see this adjective in a religious context — for example, Calvinism is known as "Reformed Christianity," a reference to the Protestant Reformation. The Latin root, reformare, means "change."

Example Sentences

Dad rocker Phil Collins and reformed Britpop princes Oasis led the 2026 class of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees who were announced on live US television on Monday.

From Barron's • Apr. 14, 2026

Steyer, who has a net worth of $2.4 billion according to Forbes, has painted himself as a reformed billionaire who walked away from Farallon because of angst about how he earned his fortune.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 6, 2026

Tom Bradshaw, president of the NFU, said the reformed SFI scheme appeared "to strike the right balance between simplifying the process and maintaining flexibility".

From BBC • Feb. 24, 2026

By the 1440s, this English system was outmatched by a reformed French army funded by direct state taxation, itself a consequence of the persistent strife that enhanced royal power by reducing regional differences.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 11, 2026

The unstructured blobs of irregular galaxies, the arms of spiral galaxies and the torus of ring galaxies exist for only a few frames in the cosmic motion picture, then dissipate, often to be reformed again.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Related Words

• reconstituted
• reconstructed
• transformed