ameliorate

a·mel·io·rate  (-mly-rt)

tr. & intr.v. a·me·lio·rat·ed, a·me·lio·rat·ing, a·me·lio·rates

To make or become better; improve. See Synonyms at improve.

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[Alteration of meliorate.]

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a·melio·ra·ble (-r-bl) adj.

a·melio·rative adj.

a·melio·rator n.

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ameliorate [am-meal-yor-rate]

Verb

[-rating, -rated] to make (something) better [Latin melior better]

amelioration n

USAGE: Ameliorate is often wrongly used where alleviate is meant. Ameliorate should be used to mean `improve', not `make easier to bear', so one should talk about alleviating pain or hardship, not ameliorating it.

Thesaurus

Verb	1.	ameliorate - to make better; "The editor improved the manuscript with his changes" improve, meliorate, amend, better alleviate, relieve, palliate, assuage - provide physical relief, as from pain; "This pill will relieve your headaches" aid, help - improve the condition of; "These pills will help the patient" revitalize, regenerate - restore strength; "This food revitalized the patient" alter, change, modify - cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue" enrich - make better or improve in quality; "The experience enriched her understanding"; "enriched foods" build up, develop - change the use of and make available or usable; "develop land"; "The country developed its natural resources"; "The remote areas of the country were gradually built up" ameliorate, improve, meliorate, better - get better; "The weather improved toward evening" turn around - improve dramatically; "The new strategy turned around sales"; "The tutor turned around my son's performance in math" help - improve; change for the better; "New slipcovers will help the old living room furniture" upgrade - to improve what was old or outdated; "I've upgraded my computer so I can run better software"; "The company upgraded their personnel" condition - put into a better state; "he conditions old cars" emend - make improvements or corrections to; "the text was emended in the second edition" iron out, put right, straighten out - settle or put right; "we need to iron out our disagreements" enhance - make better or more attractive; "This sauce will enhance the flavor of the meat" fix, furbish up, mend, repair, bushel, doctor, touch on, restore - restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken; "She repaired her TV set"; "Repair my shoes please" reform - make changes for improvement in order to remove abuse and injustices; "reform a political system" reform - improve by alteration or correction of errors or defects and put into a better condition; "reform the health system in this country" beautify, fancify, prettify, embellish - make more beautiful build - improve the cleansing action of; "build detergents" perfect, hone - make perfect or complete; "perfect your French in Paris!" fine-tune, refine, polish, down - improve or perfect by pruning or polishing; "refine one's style of writing" distill, make pure, purify, sublimate - remove impurities from, increase the concentration of, and separate through the process of distillation; "purify the water" fructify - make productive or fruitful; "The earth that he fructified" lift, raise - invigorate or heighten; "lift my spirits"; "lift his ego" advance - develop further; "We are advancing technology every day" upgrade - give better travel conditions to; "The airline upgraded me when I arrived late and Coach Class was full" educate - give an education to; "We must educate our youngsters better"
	2.	ameliorate - get better; "The weather improved toward evening" improve, meliorate, better convalesce, recover, recuperate - get over an illness or shock; "The patient is recuperating" heal - get healthy again; "The wound is healing slowly" change state, turn - undergo a transformation or a change of position or action; "We turned from Socialism to Capitalism"; "The people turned against the President when he stole the election" see the light, straighten out, reform - change for the better; "The lazy student promised to reform"; "the habitual cheater finally saw the light" surge - see one's performance improve; "He levelled the score and then surged ahead" turn around, pick up - improve significantly; go from bad to good; "Her performance in school picked up" ameliorate, improve, meliorate, amend, better - to make better; "The editor improved the manuscript with his changes" bounce back, get well, get over - improve in health; "He got well fast" heal, mend - heal or recover; "My broken leg is mending" fructify - become productive or fruitful; "The seeds fructified" upgrade - get better travel conditions; "I upgraded to First Class when Coach Class was overbooked"

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ameliorate

verb improve, better, benefit, reform, advance, promote, amend, elevate, raise, mend, mitigate, make better, assuage, meliorate

USAGE Ameliorate is sometimes confused with alleviate but the words are not synonymous. Ameliorate comes ultimately from the Latin for `better', and means `to improve'. The nouns it typically goes with are condition, and situation. Alleviate means `to lessen', and frequently occurs with poverty, suffering, pain, symptoms, and effects. Occasionally ameliorate is used with effects and poverty where the other verb may be more appropriate.

Translations

ameliorate [əˈmiːlɪəreɪt] vt → mejorar

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ameliorate [əˈmiːlɪəreɪt] vt → améliorer

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ameliorate [əˈmiːlɪəreɪt] vt → verbessern

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ameliorate [əˈmiːlɪəreɪt] vt → migliorare