ameliorated

American

[uh-meel-yuh-rey-tid, uh-mee-lee-uh-] / əˈmil yəˌreɪ tɪd, əˈmi li ə- /

adjective

made better, more bearable, or more satisfactory; improved.

As a nurse, her passion is to bring hope and an ameliorated quality of life to people in the midst of devastating medical challenges.

verb

the simple past tense and past participle of ameliorate.

Other Word Forms

unameliorated

adjective

Etymology

Origin of ameliorated

ameliorate ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

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.

The deceit is either ameliorated or worsened by the obvious unreliability of Thomas’s testimony.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

An influx of foreign workers had ameliorated the problem somewhat, but that has now dried up.

From MarketWatch • Oct. 11, 2025

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

Ten years later, this "NOVA" episode depicts his journey to live with a new AI-driven prosthetic — one of many medical and scientific engineering developments ameliorated by computational work.

From Salon • Mar. 29, 2024

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

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023