mend
to make (something broken, worn, torn, or otherwise damaged) whole, sound, or usable by repairing: to mend old clothes; to mend a broken toy.
to remove or correct defects or errors in.
to set right; make better; improve: to mend matters.
to progress toward recovery, as a sick person.
(of broken bones) to grow back together; knit.
to improve, as conditions or affairs.
the act of mending; repair or improvement.
a mended place.
Idioms about mend
mend sail, Nautical. to refurl sails that have been badly furled.: Also mend the furl .
on the mend,
recovering from an illness.
improving in general, as a state of affairs: The breach between father and son is on the mend.
Origin of mend
1synonym study For mend
Other words for mend
Opposites for mend
Other words from mend
- mend·a·ble, adjective
- re·mend, verb
- un·mend·a·ble, adjective
- un·mend·ed, adjective
- well-mended, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use mend in a sentence
Her grandmother was hospitalized for a week but is on the mend.
At dinner parties and game nights, casual American life is fueling the coronavirus surge | Karin Brulliard | November 12, 2020 | Washington PostThey were then shipped to Archive laboratories in Maryland where mold was removed and rips mended.
Troubled relationships can actually be mended during this time.
But look for any breach between the GOP establishment powerhouse and the Tea Party-backed Paul to be mended very quickly.
In excusing the Freedom of your Satyr, you urge that it galls no body, because nobody minds it enough to be mended by it.
A Letter from Mr. Cibber to Mr. Pope | Colley Cibber
It almost broke her heart, though; broke it for a year, and then a dashing cousin of his mended it.
Tessa Wadsworth's Discipline | Jennie M. DrinkwaterThe latter syllable of Venus comes at the csural pause; but the scansion is best mended by omitting nygh; see footnote.
Chaucer's Works, Volume 1 (of 7) -- Romaunt of the Rose; Minor Poems | Geoffrey ChaucerHenri did not appear, though she had sent what she suspected was his only tunic back to him neatly mended at five o'clock.
The Amazing Interlude | Mary Roberts RinehartThe moccasins had to be mended, however, as the night travel down the Scioto path had sadly damaged them.
A Virginia Scout | Hugh Pendexter
British Dictionary definitions for mend
/ (mɛnd) /
(tr) to repair (something broken or unserviceable)
to improve or undergo improvement; reform (often in the phrase mend one's ways)
(intr) to heal or recover
(intr) (of conditions) to improve; become better
(tr) Northern English to feed or stir (a fire)
the act of repairing
a mended area, esp on a garment
on the mend becoming better, esp in health
Origin of mend
1Derived forms of mend
- mendable, adjective
- mender, noun
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
Other Idioms and Phrases with mend
In addition to the idioms beginning with mend
- mend one's fences
- mend one's ways
also see:
- on the mend
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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