melioration
Americannoun
-
Historical Linguistics. semantic change in a word to a more approved or more respectable meaning.
noun
Etymology
Origin of melioration
1620–30; < Late Latin meliōrātiōn- (stem of meliōrātiō ), equivalent to meliōrāt ( us ) ( see meliorate) + -iōn- -ion
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.
But professional reformation or melioration is usually an organic, incremental process.
From BusinessWeek ● Nov. 22, 2011
As the two great causes of the melioration in the lot of the slaves since the establishment of our Independence, I should set down: 1.
From The Journal of Negro History, Volume 6, 1921 by Various
In these small communities, which are never agitated by the desire of aggrandizement or the cares of self-defence, all public authority and private energy is employed in internal melioration.
From American Institutions and Their Influence by Alexis de Tocqueville
We need hardly speak in the language of detestation of this species of obstructiveness, which prevents hundreds of valuable schemes of social melioration from being entered into.
From Chambers's Edinburgh Journal, No. 456 Volume 18, New Series, September 25, 1852 by Robert Chambers
In the melioration of the public service which has been so conspicuously in operation since 1877, Hayes must be rated the pioneer President.
From Historical Essays by James Ford Rhodes
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