emend

American  

[ih-mend] / ɪˈmɛnd /

verb (used with object)

1. to edit or change (a text).

2. to free from faults or errors; correct.

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emend British  

/ ɪˈmɛnd /

verb

1. (tr) to make corrections or improvements in (a text) by critical editing

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Related Words

See amend.

Other Word Forms

• emendable adjective
• nonemendable adjective
• unemendable adjective
• unemended adjective

Etymology

Origin of emend

1375–1425; late Middle English (< Middle French emender ) < Latin ēmendāre “to correct,” equivalent to ē- e- ¹ + mend(um) “fault” + -āre infinitive suffix

Explanation

When you emend a piece of writing, you correct or revise it. If you are asked to emend a report, that just means you need to go through it and make revisions. Emend is similar in spelling and pronunciation to another word, amend, and there’s a slight overlap in meaning as well. Emend refers to changes and improvements made to a text. Amend also can refer to making minor changes to a text, but it can be used to describe improvements made to other things as well — for example, you can amend a situation. In contrast, emend’s powers are limited to words. So if you’re using emend — the one with the "e" — just make sure you’re describing improvements that involve text.

Example Sentences

Bowman lived in New York, and had no children—surely it wasn’t much to ask for him to emend a plan?

From The New Yorker • Jan. 2, 2019

In his 1897 novel, “An Antarctic Mystery,” he saw fit to emend Poe, rescuing Pym from the boiling sea only to kill him off on a lodestone mountain.

From The New Yorker • Apr. 17, 2017

But writers also seem driven to confront, reinterpret and emend the canon.

From The Guardian • Jun. 27, 2013

The final bill that President Roosevelt took down the Potomac was still studded with question marks and blank spaces for him to emend.

From Time Magazine Archive

Second, all critics have agreed to condemn the digression in which Theobald advertised his ability to emend Greek texts.

From Preface to the Works of Shakespeare (1734) by Dick, Hugh G.