improvement
English
Alternative forms
- emprovement (obsolete)
Etymology
From Anglo-Norman emprouwement; synchronically improve + -ment.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɪmˈpɹuːvmənt/
Audio (GA) (file) - Hyphenation: im‧prove‧ment
Noun
improvement (countable and uncountable, plural improvements)
- The act of improving; advancement or growth; a bettering
- November 9, 1662, Robert South, Of the Creation of Man in the Image of God
- I look upon your city as […] the best place of improvement.
- 1783, Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres
- Exercise is the chief source of improvement in all our faculties.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 4293071:
- Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.
- 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:
- Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. […] Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.
- November 9, 1662, Robert South, Of the Creation of Man in the Image of God
- The act of making profitable use or application of anything, or the state of being profitably employed; practical application, for example of a doctrine, principle, or theory, stated in a discourse.
- 1705, Samuel Clarke, Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion
- good improvement of his reason.
- 1681, John Tillotson, A sermon preached at the funeral of the Reverend Mr Thomas Gouge
- I shall make some improvement of this doctrine.
- 1705, Samuel Clarke, Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion
- The state of being improved; betterment; advance
- Something which is improved
- the new edition is an improvement on the old.
- 1712 January 23 (Gregorian calendar), Joseph Addison; Richard Steele [et al.], “SATURDAY, January 12, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 273; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, OCLC 191120697:
- The parts of Sinon, Camilla, and some few others, are improvements on the Greek poet.
- Increase; growth; progress; advance.
- 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), 6th edition, London: […] J[ames] Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, […], published 1727, OCLC 21766567:
- Those vices which more particularly receive improvement by prosperity.
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- (in the plural) Valuable additions or betterments, for example buildings, clearings, drains, fences, etc., on premises.
- (Patent Laws): A useful addition to, or modification of, a machine, manufacture, or composition.
Synonyms
- improval, amelioration
Antonyms
- worsening
- deterioration
- disimprovement
Hyponyms
- self-improvement
Derived terms
- disimprovement
Translations
act of improving
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See also
- uplift
References
improvement in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
Italian
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from English improvement.
Noun
improvement m (invariable)
- (rare) improvement
- Synonyms: miglioramento, perfezionamento