单词 | amelioration |
释义 | ameliorationn. 1. The action or process of improving something or making something better; the fact or condition of being made better; improvement. Also: mitigation or alleviation of something negative or unpleasant.soil amelioration: see soil n.1 Compounds 1a(a). ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > improvement > [noun] betteringeOE amendmentc1230 bote of beam1330 meliorationa1400 upraisingc1400 reformation?a1425 amelioration?a1450 enrichinga1513 amendsa1547 gooding1567 betterment1594 meliorization1599 endearment1612 raisure1613 betterance1614 ascenta1616 ascension1617 enrichmenta1626 improvement1625 booty beam1642 meliorating1647 bonification1652 uplift1873 work1914 pickupa1916 upgrading1920 tone-up1943 stepping1958 upgradation1979 upgrade1980 ?a1450 tr. Lanfranc Sci. Cirurgie (BL Add. 12056) (1894) 153 (MED) Þere comyth rectificacioun to þe nuca & amelioracioun [a1400 Ashm. melioracioun; L. melioratio] off mevynge of lymes. 1659 W. Morice in T. Burton Diary (1828) (modernized text) IV. 355 The fruit receives amelioration by the second concoction. a1734 R. North Autobiogr. (1887) v. 60 Everyone chose rather to pay for amelioration than receive for pejoration. a1797 E. Burke Fourth Let. Peace Regicide Directory France in Writings & Speeches (1991) IX. 70 The October Politician..supposes, that these very robbers and murderers themselves are in a course of amelioration. 1813 H. Davy Elements Agric. Chem. v. 226 Plants are capable of amelioration by peculiar methods of cultivation. 1869 W. H. T. Reality of Spirit Communion with Man 15 It [sc. Spiritualism] offers suggestions for the amelioration of poverty. 1872 ‘G. Eliot’ Middlemarch III. v. xlv. 33 Nothing is more offensive than this ostentation of reform, where there is no real amelioration. 1902 G. S. Whitmore Last Maori War p. xxii There is a young Maori party, well educated, and earnestly working for the amelioration of their people. 1968 Brit. Jrnl. Psychiatry 114 1054/1 The revolutions of very recent history have given rise to considerable amelioration. 2007 Times 6 Feb. 14/5 Climate change, though unavoidable, may be amenable to sensible amelioration. 2. As a count noun. An improvement, a change for the better; spec. (usually in plural) a practical alteration intended to make something better; a work of improvement (now rare). Also: a mitigation, an alleviation. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > improvement > [noun] > instance of improvementa1631 melioration1647 amelioration1660 improvement1675 1660 G. Bridges tr. Duc de Rohan Memoires i. 3 To bring this Project to passe, he vailes it with a pretence of much affection to those of the Reformation, and large promises of an Amelioration in their affairs [Fr. d'ameliorer leurs affaires]. 1728 tr. R. Aubert de Vertot d'Aubeuf Hist. Knights of Malta II. 170 They have ordained that such commanders..shall, among other ameliorations [Fr. ameliorissemens], be obliged to build houses fit for themselves and their successors to dwell in. 1832 Gardener's Mag. May 222 In ameliorations necessarily involving considerable expense, much cannot be expected to be performed immediately. 1835 D. O'Connell Let. to Duke of Wellington 5 Procuring..some ameliorations of the evils of Ireland. 1875 H. C. Wood Treat. Therapeutics (1879) 107 If recovery occur, it is by a gradual amelioration of the symptoms. 1908 Motor-car Jrnl. 28 Mar. 92/1 Farman succeeded in improving his machine so materially that..he came in first... Delagrange, in his turn adopting all the ameliorations made by his friend, has come in second. 1942 H. L. Movius Irish Stone Age i. i. 18 Three Late-Glacial climatic periods, which demonstrate one amelioration and one deterioration of the climate..have been recognized. 2011 D. Redvaldsen Labour Party in Brit. & Norway ii. 39 Labour's main idea..was that women deplored war and were in favour of social ameliorations. 3. Linguistics. The development of a more favourable meaning or of more positive connotations for a word or expression. Cf. pejoration n. 2. ΘΚΠ the mind > language > linguistics > semantics > types of semantic change > [noun] usurpation1644 amelioration1871 pejoration1889 adequation1931 permutation1931 melioration1939 loan-shift1950 signal reaction1976 1871 E. A. Abbott & J. R. Seeley Eng. Lessons for Eng. People i. ii. 52 The Law of Amelioration.—It is rare indeed to find a word..improved by time. 1939 J. Hixson & I. Colodny Word Ways 300 Amelioration, the sense development by which a word is elevated, or grows more estimable, as steward from A.S. stigweard. 1964 T. Pyles Origins & Devel. Eng. Lang. xi. 309 Amelioration..is well illustrated by knight, which used to mean ‘servant’. 2003 A. Curzan Gender Shifts in Hist. Eng. v. 144 Semantic pejoration appears to occur more often than amelioration in the lexicon generally. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2020; most recently modified version published online December 2021). < n.?a1450 |
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