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• reformation
  reformation

  noun

  the act of changing to a better state or character, way of operating, lifestyle, etc.; the correction of abuses and bad habits or practices.
• Reformation
  Reformation

  noun

  a religious and political movement of 16th-century Europe that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the establishment of the Protestant Churches

reformation

American  

[ref-er-may-shuhn] / ˌrɛf ərˈmeɪ ʃən /

noun

• reformations
  plural

1. the act of changing to a better state or character, way of operating, lifestyle, etc.; the correction of abuses and bad habits or practices.

   Last year the team underwent a reformation under the direction of a new head coach.

   The reformation of the justice system in that country is long overdue.

   Synonyms:

   reform, correction, betterment, improvement

2. an improved state or way of functioning that results from the correction of abuses and bad habits or practices.

   The gambler's so-called reformation lasted exactly one month.

3. Church History. the Reformation, the 16th-century movement that began with the objective of correcting theology and practice in the Roman Catholic Church and that ultimately led to the establishment of the Protestant churches.

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Reformation ¹ British  

/ ˌrɛfəˈmeɪʃən /

noun

1. a religious and political movement of 16th-century Europe that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the establishment of the Protestant Churches

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reformation ² British  

/ ˌrɛfəˈmeɪʃən /

noun

1. the act or an instance of reforming or the state of being reformed

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Reformation Cultural  

1. A religious movement in the sixteenth century that began as an attempted reform of the Roman Catholic Church but resulted in the founding of Protestant church es separate from it. Some of the leaders of the Reformation were Martin Luther, John Calvin, and John Knox. The Reformation was established in England after King Henry VIII declared himself head of the Christian Church in that country.

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonreformation
  noun
• post-Reformation
  noun
• pre-Reformation
  noun
• self-reformation
  noun
• superreformation
  noun
• nonreformational
  adjective
• prereformation
  adjective
• reformational
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• reformations
  plural

Etymology

Origin of reformation

First recorded in 1375–1425; late Middle English reformacion, from Latin refōrmātiōn-, stem of refōrmātiō, from refōrmāt(us) “reformed” (past participle of refōrmāre “to form again”; see reform) + -iō -ion

Explanation

Reformation means making changes to something with the intention of setting it back on the right path. Your life will be easier after the reformation of the transportation system, when the buses run more frequently. The act or process of changing a religious, political, or societal institution for the better is called a reformation. When capitalized, the Reformation refers specifically to the Protestant Reformation in Europe, which was a religious change instigated in 1517 by Protestants who wished to reform the Catholic Church. The root of reformation is the Latin word reformare, which means to form again or to change.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

reformation Reformation reformations

However, the amount of reformation each winter is in decline, as rising temperatures due to climate change disproportionately affect the Arctic.

From Barron's ● Mar. 26, 2026

After three stays of execution, Ramirez has run out of opportunities to appeal, and despite having shown evidence of reformation, the pleas by those in Ramirez’s corner go unheard.

From Salon ● Mar. 1, 2025

The budding clean hydrogen industry has come up with a color scheme to identify the dirty process known as methane steam reformation and make it easier for the general public to understand cleaner alternatives.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2024

"Our study shows that spiny mouse macrophages release distinct proteins that are partially responsible for the reformation of specialized tissues at the site of injury and for protecting cells from stress," said Seifert.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 25, 2024

But, since it was not permissible to ignore, those eight minutes pointed the road to a complete reformation in astronomy.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Sustainable clothing brand Reformation posted double-digit revenue growth in its inaugural report as a public company, fueled by an expanding customer base.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

Online forums are full of disappointed customers complaining about Reformation pieces’ shabby quality relative to their premium pricing.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

“We’re still really early on in our inning,” Reformation Chief Executive Hali Borenstein said in an interview with CNBC.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

Reformation opened its first international stores in Toronto and London in 2019, when it partnered with private equity firm Permira to further scale.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

This was the beginning of the Reformation; intellectuals everywhere began to reject the authority of the pope.

From "Zero: The Biography of a Dangerous Idea" by Charles Seife

Ironically, “the” Reformation as the sundering of Christian unity was at least in part the product of prosaic reformations already occurring within the Church.

From Textbooks ● Jan. 1, 2020

In Germany and Russia, political reformations of the world were attempted.

From Time Magazine Archive

The birth-places of the greatest of the world's social, political, and religious reformations have generally been of insignificant and lowly aspect, and apparently under the most inauspicious circumstances for producing any great effect upon mankind.

From Hydesville The Story of the Rochester Knockings, Which Proclaimed the Advent of Modern Spiritualism by Thomas Olman Todd

It comes out in the reformations under the pious Kings of Judah.

From The Ministry of Intercession A Plea for More Prayer by Andrew Murray

In the famous Dartmoor prison and at Borstal in Kent experiments are being made to secure a greater number of reformations among the younger convicts.

From A Plea for the Criminal Being a reply to Dr. Chapple's work: 'The Fertility of the Unfit', and an Attempt to explain the leading principles of Criminological and Reformatory Science by James Leslie Allan Kayll

Related Words

• realignment
• renewal
• reorganization
• transformation