amends
Americannoun
-
reparation or compensation for a loss, damage, or injury of any kind; recompense.
- Synonyms:
- restitution, redress
-
Obsolete. improvement; recovery, as of health.
idioms
noun
Etymology
Origin of amends
First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English amendes, from Middle French, plural of amende “reparation,” noun derivative of amender “to repair, correct errors in, improve the condition of”; see amend
Explanation
So you blew the surprise party by mentioning it in passing to the birthday girl. Now, you have to do something to make amends, or reparations, to the boyfriend who worked all day to set up the party. When you make amends, you mend something you have damaged, like a deal, or relationship. Maybe, your cupcake shop was panned by a food critic in the paper, but he never went to your store, he went to that awful cupcake shop across the street. The critic should make amends by printing a retraction.
Vocabulary lists containing amends
The Kite Runner
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The One and Only Ivan
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A Christmas Carol
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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.
Though she assures readers that students do suffer consequences, including suspension, for infractions, the goal at HVA is for students to understand what they have done wrong and to make amends.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 12, 2026
In an advert in the Wall Street Journal headlined "To Those I've Hurt", West said he knew he had to make amends.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
Now she’s trying to make amends, including paying more than $6.6 million in restitution and forfeiture.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 1, 2026
Declan Rice was making all these runs too, bursting forward to try to make amends for his mistake for Tottenham's equaliser, so there was all sorts going on.
From BBC • Feb. 22, 2026
They are desperate enough to try anything to make amends.
From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan
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.
