improve (redirected from improving upon)

im·prove  (m-prv)

v. im·proved, im·prov·ing, im·proves

v.tr.

1. To raise to a more desirable or more excellent quality or condition; make better.

2. To increase the productivity or value of (land or property).

3. To put to good use; use profitably.

v.intr.

1. To become better.

2. To make beneficial additions or changes: improve on the translation.

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[Middle English improwen, to enclose land for cultivation, from Anglo-Norman emprouwer, to turn to profit : Old French en-, causative pref. (from Latin in-; see in-²) + Old French prou, profit (from Late Latin prde, advantageous; see proud).]

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im·prova·ble adj.

im·prova·bly adv.

Synonyms: improve, better¹, help, ameliorate
These verbs mean to advance to a more desirable, valuable, or excellent state. Improve and better, the most general terms, are often interchangeable: You can improve (or better) your mind through study; I got a haircut to improve (or better) my appearance.
Help usually implies limited relief or change: Gargling helps a sore throat.
To ameliorate is to improve circumstances that demand change: Volunteers were able to ameliorate conditions in the refugee camp.

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improve [ɪmˈpruːv]

vb

1. to make or become better in quality; ameliorate

2. (tr) to make (buildings, land, etc.) more valuable by additions or betterment

3. (intr; usually foll by on or upon) to achieve a better standard or quality in comparison (with) to improve on last year's crop

n

on the improve Austral informal improving

[from Anglo-French emprouer to turn to profit, from en prou into profit, from prou profit, from Late Latin prōde beneficial, from Latin prōdesse to be advantageous, from pro-¹ + esse to be]

improvable  adj

improvability , improvableness n

improvably  adv

improver  n

improvingly  adv

Thesaurus

Verb	1.	improve - to make better; "The editor improved the manuscript with his changes" ameliorate, 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.	improve - get better; "The weather improved toward evening" ameliorate, 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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improve

verb

1. enhance, better, add to, upgrade, amend, mend, augment, embellish, touch up, ameliorate, polish up He improved their house.
enhance damage, harm, mar, worsen, impair

2. get better, pick up, look up (informal), develop, advance, perk up, take a turn for the better (informal) The weather is beginning to improve.

3. make better, perfect, polish, strengthen, temper, refine, cultivate, elevate, hone He said he wanted to improve his football.

4. recuperate, recover, rally, mend, make progress, turn the corner, gain ground, gain strength, convalesce, be on the mend, grow better, make strides, take on a new lease of life (informal) He had improved so much the doctor cut his dosage.

improve on something beat, top, better, cap (informal), exceed, trump, surpass, outstrip, outdo We need to improve on our performance against France.

Translations

improve [ɪmˈpruːv]

A. VT

1. (= make better) [+ work] → mejorar; [+ property] → hacer mejoras en
to improve o.s. or one's mind → cultivarse, instruirse
to improve o.s (in wealth) → mejorar su situación

2. (= favour) [+ appearance] → favorecer

3. (= perfect) [+ skill] → perfeccionar; (= add value to) → aumentar el valor de
to improve one's Spanish → perfeccionar sus conocimientos del español

4. (= increase) [+ production, yield] → aumentar
to improve one's chances of success → aumentar or mejorar las posibilidades de éxito
the management has refused to improve its offer of 3% → la dirección se ha negado a mejorar su oferta del 3%

B. VI [person] (in skill etc) → hacer progresos; (after illness) → mejorar(se); [health, weather, work, quality] → mejorar; [production, yield] → aumentar; [business] → mejorar, prosperar
to improve in sth → hacer progresos en algo
to improve with age/use → mejorar con el tiempo/el uso

improve on improve upon VI + PREP (gen) → mejorar
it cannot be improved (up)on → es inmejorable
to improve (up)on sb's offer → ofrecer más que algn, mejorar la oferta de algn

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improve [ɪmˈpruːv]

vt → améliorer
They have improved the service → Ils ont amélioré le service.

vi

(= get better) → s'améliorer
The weather is improving → Le temps s'améliore.
My French has improved → Mon français s'est amélioré.
The situation isn't going to improve → La situation ne va pas s'améliorer.

(= make progress) [pupil, student] → faire des progrès

[patient]
She may improve with medical treatment → Son état pourrait s'améliorer avec le traitement.

improve on

vt fus

[+ offer] → enchérir sur

(= surpass) [+ record, time] → améliorer
He will be aiming to improve on last year's winning time of 10.3 sec → Il aura pour objectif d'améliorer son temps victorieux de l'année dernière, 10,3 s.

(= make better) → améliorer

(= be better than) [+ original, previous version] → être un progrès par rapport à

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improve

vt

(= make better) → verbessern; knowledge → erweitern; salaries → aufbessern; area, appearance → verschönern; sauce, food etc → verfeinern; production, value → erhöhen, steigern; to improve one’s mind → sich weiterbilden

to improve the shining hour (liter) → die Gelegenheit beim Schopfe packen

vi → sich verbessern, sich bessern; (area, appearance) → schöner werden; (production, value) → sich erhöhen, steigen; he has improved in maths → er hat sich in Mathematik gebessert; to improve with practice → durch Übung besser werden; wine improves with age → je älter der Wein desto besser; the invalid is improving → dem Kranken geht es besser; I’ll try to improve → ich werde versuchen, mich zu bessern; things are improving → es sieht schon besser aus, die Lage bessert sich

vr to improve oneself → an sich (dat) → arbeiten

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improve [ɪmˈpruːv]

1. vt (gen) → migliorare; (property, land) → apportare migliorie a; (production, yield, salary) → aumentare
to improve one's Italian → perfezionare il proprio italiano
to improve one's chances of success → aumentare le proprie probabilità di successo
to improve one's mind → migliorare la propria cultura

2. vi (gen) → migliorare; (person, in skill) → fare (dei) progressi
to improve in sth → migliorare or fare (dei) progressi in qc
to improve with age/use → migliorare con gli anni/con l'uso
this wine improves with age → questo vino migliora con l'invecchiamento

improve (up)on vi + prep (offer) → aumentare; (work) → ottenere dei risultati migliori rispetto a; (method) → perfezionare; (quality) → migliorare
I can't improve on my offer to you → non posso farti un'offerta migliore

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improve [ɪmˈpruːv]

1. vt (gen) → migliorare; (property, land) → apportare migliorie a; (production, yield, salary) → aumentare
to improve one's Italian → perfezionare il proprio italiano
to improve one's chances of success → aumentare le proprie probabilità di successo
to improve one's mind → migliorare la propria cultura

2. vi (gen) → migliorare; (person, in skill) → fare (dei) progressi
to improve in sth → migliorare or fare (dei) progressi in qc
to improve with age/use → migliorare con gli anni/con l'uso
this wine improves with age → questo vino migliora con l'invecchiamento

improve (up)on vi + prep (offer) → aumentare; (work) → ottenere dei risultati migliori rispetto a; (method) → perfezionare; (quality) → migliorare
I can't improve on my offer to you → non posso farti un'offerta migliore

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improve

v improve [imˈpruːv]

to (cause to) become better, of higher quality etc His work has greatly improved; They recently improved the design of that car. verbeter يُحَسِّن подобрявам zlepšit (se) forbedre verbessern βελτιώνω, βελτιώνομαι mejorar, perfeccionar parandama, paranema بهتر شدن parantaa (s')améliorer לְשַפֵּר सुधारना, सुधरना poboljšati javul; javít; fejleszt meningkatkan, memperbaiki bæta, laga migliorare 良くする 개선하다 pagerinti, patobulinti, pagerėti uzlabot; pilnveidot; uzlaboties; pilnveidoties meningkatkan verbeteren (for)bedre, forskjønne polepszyć się, ulepszyć melhorar a (se) îmbunătăţi улучшать(ся) zlepšiť (sa), napraviť (sa), zdokonaliť izboljšati (se) poboljšati förbättra ดีขึ้น geliş(tir)mek, iyileş(tir)mek, düzel(t)mek 改善 удосконалювати(ся) بہتر بننا یا بنانا cải thiện 使更好

n imˈprovement

1 the state or act of improving or being improved There has been a great improvement in her work; The patient's condition shows some improvement. verbetering تَحْسين، تَحَسُّن подобрение zlepšení forbedring die Verbesserung βελτίωση mejora paranemine پیشرفت parannus amélioration שִיפּוּר सुधार poboljšanje javulás peningkatan, perbaikan úrbót, lagfæring miglioramento 改良 개선 pagerėjimas, patobulinimas uzlabojums; uzlabošanās menjadi lebih baik verbetering (for)bedring, framskritt polepszenie melhoria îmbu­nă­tăţire улучшение zlepšenie izboljšanje poboljšanje förbättring การแก้ไข düzelme, gelişme, iyileşme 改善 поліпшення بہتری sự cải tiến 进步

2 something which improves, or adds beauty, value etc I've made several improvements to the house. verbetering تَحْسين подобрение vylepšení forbedring die Verbesserung βελτίωση mejora täiustus بهسازی parannus amélioration שְׁכלוּל बेहतर होना dotjerivanje tökéletesítés perbaikan umbætur miglioramento 改良 개선된 것 patobulinimas uzlabošana; pilnveidošana memperbaiki verbetering forbedring, forskjønnelse poprawka melhoramento îmbunătăţire усовершенствование zdokonalenie izboljšava poboljšanje förbättring การทำให้ดีขึ้น değişiklik 裝修 удосконалення اضافہ sự sửa sang 经改进的东西

improve on

to produce something which is better, more useful etc than I think I can improve on that suggestion. verbeter op يُدْخِل تَحْسينات على подобрявам zdokonalit, vylepšit forbedre verbessern δημιουργώ κτ. καλύτερο mejorar, perfeccionar täiustama بهتر کردن parantaa améliorer לְשַׁפֵּר से बेहतर करना to bolje (tovább)fejleszt memperbaiki bæta við, gera betur migliorare ～を改良する 개선하다 pagerinti, patobulinti uzlabot memperbaiki verbeteren forbedre (på), pynte på ulepszyć melhorar a ameliora улучшать, усовершенствовать zdokonaliť izpopolniti uraditi bolje överträffa, bättra på การปรับปรุง daha iyisini yapmak 做出更好的或更有用的東西 удосконалювати کسی چیز میں بہتری لانا hoàn thiện 作出比...更好的东西

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improve → يُحّْسِن zlepšit forbedre verbessern βελτιώνω mejorar parantua améliorer poboljšati migliorare 改善する 개선하다 verbeteren forbedre ulepszyć melhorar улучшать förbättra (sig) ทำให้ดีขึ้น geliştirmek cải thiện 改进