mend

[ mend ]
/ mɛnd /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR mend ON THESAURUS.COM

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

noun

the act of mending; repair or improvement.
a mended place.

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Idioms for mend

    mend sail, Nautical. to refurl sails that have been badly furled.Also mend the furl.
    on the mend,
    1. recovering from an illness.
    2. improving in general, as a state of affairs: The breach between father and son is on the mend.

Origin of mend

1150–1200; Middle English menden, aphetic variant of amend

SYNONYMS FOR mend

1 fix, restore, retouch. Mend, darn, patch mean to repair something and thus renew its usefulness. Mend is a general expression that emphasizes the idea of making whole something damaged: to mend a broken dish, a tear in an apron. Darn and patch are more specific, referring particularly to repairing holes or tears. To darn is to repair by means of stitches interwoven with one another: to darn stockings. To patch is to cover a hole or tear, usually with a piece or pieces of similar material and to secure the edges of these; it implies a more temporary or makeshift repair than the others: to patch the knees of trousers, a rubber tire.
2 rectify, amend, emend.
3 ameliorate, meliorate.
4 heal, recover, amend.
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OTHER WORDS FROM mend

Words nearby mend

menazon, menchú, mencius, mencken, mencken, h. l., mend, mend one's fences, mend one's ways, mendacious, mendacity, mende
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Words related to mendable

correctable, amenable, capable, corrigible, improvable, reparative, restorable

Example sentences from the Web for mendable

  • Thirdly, to mend themselves, and the existing state of things, as far as either are marred or mendable.

    Modern Painters Vol. III.|John Ruskin

British Dictionary definitions for mendable

mend
/ (mɛnd) /

verb

noun

Derived forms of mend

mendable, adjectivemender, noun

Word Origin for mend

C12: shortened from amend
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Idioms and Phrases with mendable

mend
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.