amends

reparation or compensation for a loss, damage, or injury of any kind; recompense; to make amends: He tried to make amends for his rudeness by bringing flowers.

Not to be confused with:

amend – to alter, modify, rephrase; to add or subtract from: Congress may amend the tax bill.

emend – to edit or change (a text) to remove errors; to correct: We must emend the text before the book goes to print.

a·mends

(ə-mĕndz′)

pl.n. (used with a sing. or pl. verb)

Recompense for grievance or injury: The new law offers no amends to victims of crime. I assured them that no amends are necessary. You must make amends to them for the insult.

[Middle English amendes, from Old French, pl. of amende, reparation, from amender, to amend; see amend.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

amends

(əˈmɛndz)

(functioning as singular) recompense or compensation given or gained for some injury, insult, etc: to make amends.

[C13: from Old French amendes fines, from amende compensation, from amender to emend]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

a•mends

(əˈmɛndz)

n. (used with a sing. or pl. v.)

reparation or compensation for a loss, damage, or injury of any kind; recompense.

Idioms:

make amends, to compensate, as for an injury, loss, or insult.

[1275–1325; Middle English amendes < Middle French, pl. of amende reparation, n. derivative of amender to amend]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun	1.	amends - a sum of money paid in compensation for loss or injury damages, indemnification, redress, restitution, indemnity compensation - something (such as money) given or received as payment or reparation (as for a service or loss or injury) relief - (law) redress awarded by a court; "was the relief supposed to be protection from future harm or compensation for past injury?" actual damages, compensatory damages, general damages - (law) compensation for losses that can readily be proven to have occurred and for which the injured party has the right to be compensated nominal damages - (law) a trivial sum (usually $1.00) awarded as recognition that a legal injury was sustained (as for technical violations of a contract) exemplary damages, punitive damages, smart money - (law) compensation in excess of actual damages (a form of punishment awarded in cases of malicious or willful misconduct) atonement, expiation, satisfaction - compensation for a wrong; "we were unable to get satisfaction from the local store"
	2.	amends - something done or paid in expiation of a wrong; "how can I make amends" reparation atonement, expiation, propitiation - the act of atoning for sin or wrongdoing (especially appeasing a deity)

amends

noun

Something to make up for loss or damage:

compensation, indemnification, indemnity, offset, quittance, recompense, redress, reimbursement, remuneration, reparation, repayment, requital, restitution, satisfaction, setoff.

Translations

amende

компенсирование

amends

[əˈmendz] NPL to make amends (to sb) for sth (= apologize) → dar satisfacción (a algn) por algo; (= compensate) → compensar (a algn) por algo
I'll try to make amends in future → trataré de dar satisfacción en el futuro

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

amends

pl to make amends for something → etw wiedergutmachen; to make amends to somebody for something → jdn für etw entschädigen; I’ll try to make amends → ich werde versuchen, das wiedergutzumachen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

amends

[əˈmɛndz] npl to make amends (to sb) for sth (apologize) → farsi perdonare (da qn) per qc; (compensate) → risarcire or indennizzare (qn) per qc

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

"I should like to do something for my brother's family, Nicholas; and I think we are bound to make some amends to Rosamond and her husband.

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'I've been a cursed rascal, God knows,' said he, as he gave it a hearty squeeze, 'but you see if I don't make amends for it - d-n me if I don't!'

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But, as Uncle Alec's experiment was intended to amuse the young folks, rather than suggest educational improvements for the consideration of the elders, she trusts that these shortcomings will be overlooked by the friends of the Eight Cousins, and she will try to make amends in a second volume, which shall attempt to show The Rose in Bloom.

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My dear Mother,--I am very sorry to tell you that it will not be in our power to keep our promise of spending our Christmas with you; and we are prevented that happiness by a circumstance which is not likely to make us any amends. Lady Susan, in a letter to her brother-in-law, has declared her intention of visiting us almost immediately; and as such a visit is in all probability merely an affair of convenience, it is impossible to conjecture its length.

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"There is some sense in what he says about the girls, however, and if he is disposed to make them any amends, I shall not be the person to discourage him."

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If he were deficient there, nothing should make amends for it.

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The captain was made large amends for the unpleasant minutes which he passed in the conversation of his wife (and which were as few as he could contrive to make them), by the pleasant meditations he enjoyed when alone.

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Let me make what amends are possible for your useless journey.

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Unto my children will I make amends for being the child of my fathers: and unto all the future--for THIS present-day!--

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As the best amends I can make you for having ever gone into it, I make known to you, as a warning, what Wegg has found out.

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You owe me some amends for an aching heart." As I said this, the path suddenly broadened into a little circular glade into which the moonlight poured in a silver flood.

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Why not amend it and make it perfect before it is irrevocably established?" This may be plausible enough, but it is only plausible.

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