ameliorate
/əˈmiːlɪəreɪt
/verb [with object] formal
Make (something bad or unsatisfactory) better: the reform did much to ameliorate living standards...
- Improved social and economic conditions enhance health status and ameliorate problems of addiction.
- At least some of these could be ameliorated by improved urban design.
- He drafted it because he believed that the U.N. is the place to resolve such disputes and ameliorate such crises.
Derivatives
ameliorative
/ adjective ...- I think the ameliorative treatments have been a godsend.
- While buyers are not thrilled by rising prices, rising prices are one of the ameliorative responses to changes in scarcity conditions.
- And I agree, also, with her description of a more ameliorative social policy for working families.
ameliorator
Origin
Mid 18th century: alteration of meliorate, influenced by French améliorer, from meilleur 'better'.