amelioration

American  

[uh-meel-yuh-rey-shuhn, uh-mee-lee-uh-] / əˌmil yəˈreɪ ʃən, əˈmi li ə- /

noun

1. an act or instance of ameliorating or making better; the state of being ameliorated or made better.

   the amelioration of working conditions.

2. something that ameliorates; an improvement.

3. melioration.

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amelioration British  

/ əˌmiːljəˈreɪʃən /

noun

1. the act or an instance of ameliorating or the state of being ameliorated

2. something that ameliorates; an improvement

3. Also called: elevation.  linguistics (of the meaning of a word) a change from pejorative to neutral or positively pleasant. The word nice has achieved its modern meaning by amelioration from the earlier sense foolish, silly

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Etymology

Origin of amelioration

First recorded in 1790–1800; ameliorate + -ion

Explanation

Amelioration is a process that makes something better. A philanthropist might devote her life to the amelioration of poverty and hunger. Any time there's amelioration, something negative is becoming more positive. If your landlord improves the water pressure and lowers the rent, that's amelioration. Often this word has to do with words themselves and how some change in meaning over the years, becoming more positive. A good example is terrific, which once meant "causing terror" and now means "wonderful" or "awesome." Through amelioration, terrific went from a negative meaning to a positive one.

Example Sentences

First, there is some deep-rooted psychological reason why, in all sorts of areas, the perception of a problem's seriousness grows in proportion to its apparent amelioration.

From BBC • Sep. 1, 2023

But to do so also means yelling "stop" to science, enlightenment and the amelioration of human suffering.

From Salon • Dec. 24, 2022

That ad—and “care, compassion, change”—argues for this in a creation of good versus an amelioration of harm frame.

From Slate • May 16, 2022

“Also, the great benefit of using adipose tissue is that we see a significant amount of symptom amelioration for a good amount of time.”

From Washington Post • Nov. 5, 2021

Right away he believed that the final amelioration of all his suffering was immediately at hand.

From "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka