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melioration

[ meel-yuh-rey-shuh n, mee-lee-uh- ]

/ ˌmil yəˈreɪ ʃən, ˌmi li ə- /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR melioration ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Historical Linguistics. semantic change in a word to a more approved or more respectable meaning. Compare pejoration(def 2).

amelioration.

Origin of melioration

1620–30; < Late Latin meliōrātiōn- (stem of meliōrātiō), equivalent to meliōrāt(us) (see meliorate) + -iōn- -ion

Words nearby melioration

melilot, melinda, melinite, melioidosis, meliorate, melioration, meliorism, meliority, melisma, melissa, melitene

Example sentences from the Web for melioration

It is no less an evidence that their condition was in a state of melioration.

Dissertation on Slavery |St. George Tucker.
Every circumstance conspired to this melioration of the art in Florence as well as in other places.

The History of Painting in Italy, Vol. 1 (of 6) |Luigi Antonio Lanzi
All is quiet in Holland and Belgium; and all is awaiting the melioration which time and wisdom must bring.

Graham's Magazine, Vol XXXIII, No. 6, December 1848 |Various
On that day ministers communicated their plans for the melioration of Irish suffering.

The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.III. |E. Farr and E. H. Nolan

The principle of the one, in short, was melioration; of the other, conservation.

Constitutional History of England, volume 3 of 3 |Henry Hallam

British Dictionary definitions for melioration

melioration

/ (ˌmiːlɪəˈreɪʃən) /

noun

the act or an instance of improving or the state of being improved