melioration
- noun
- /ˌmɛliəˈreɪʃən/
- Specialized
:
amelioración
- One example of melioration is how ‘knight’ changed from meaning ‘servant’ to ‘noble warrior’.
Examples
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The word ‘nice’ underwent melioration and now expresses approval rather than foolishness.
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In historical linguistics, melioration is contrasted with pejoration, where meanings become more negative.
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The melioration of the term 'sick' to mean 'cool' is fascinating.
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There has been a significant melioration in the meaning of 'nice'.
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An example of melioration in language is the evolution of the word 'silly' from meaning 'happy' to its current sense of 'foolish'.
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Over time, the word 'gossip' experienced melioration, shifting from a neutral term to one that often implies a form of sharing news.
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The term 'vulgar' has undergone melioration, now sometimes referring to something that is relatable or popular.
Antonyms
43
5.9
A slow change when something like a building or a person's health becomes worse
How Positive
Surface Forms
Morphology
melioration = meliorate (opaque) = melior + ation
Though morphologically regular, this sense is a specialized linguistic term (the process of semantic amelioration) and is unlikely to be derivable by average learners from the base form.
Etymology
Melioration comes from the Latin word melior, meaning 'better', and in language study it describes when a word's meaning becomes more positive, like how 'nice' once meant foolish and now means pleasant. So, melioration is the process of a word's meaning getting 'better' or more favorable over time.