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⚖️ An improvement process ⚖️ To improve systems 🔄 To change behavior 🔄 Better behavior ⚗️ To change chemically
to reform

to reform

57 4.4
Cause a person to stop bad behavior and behave better
  • verb
  • /rɪˈfɔrm/
translation icon : rehabilitar
  • I'm just going to urge you to reform for good
  • reform morals
  • attempt to reform
  • desire to reform

Because problem is, you know, you get some people reform, so then it weakens.

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Examples

  • Based on my earlier work with him, I don't think he's dangerous... ...and I think he's making a strong effort to reform himself.

    Analyze That (2002)

  • That is why I want you to reform me.

    The Importance of Being Earnest (2002)

  • And we're trying to, to to reform you as well as to house you.

  • Yeah, we reform them when they get too far off.

  • We have the power in order to reform the course by holding people in power accountable.

  • Unfortunately, we're here to reform the police force, not hunt for war criminals.

    The Hunting Party (2007)

  • So he was trying to bring the, he was trying to reform Judaism, not destroy Judaism.

  • You need to reform yourself before you can think about reforming others.

  • He just needs to reform his character, for a man's character is his destiny.

    The Lost City (2005)

  • She decided to reform her habits and start exercising regularly.

Synonyms

to reclaim
vsto reform
16 5.3

To persuade someone to leave a harmful life and live better

is achieved by various means rather than only by persuading
to regenerate
vsto reform
  • Formal
2 7.2

Help a person change to a better, more responsible life

focuses on broad behavior change rather than spiritual renewal

Antonyms

to corrupt
125 4.5

To make someone act dishonestly, often by giving them money

to degrade
55 5.1

To treat someone so they feel ashamed or less respected

Compounds

education reform
23 3.6

Changes to the school system that make teaching and learning better

healthcare reform
12 3.4

Changes to make a country's health care system better and help more people get care

reform movement
10 3.9

A group of people working together to make social or political change

reform school
  • Archaic
10 6.8

A school where young people who break the law learn rules and work skills

land reform
5 4.2

Government action that takes farm land from large owners and gives it to small farmers

Reform Judaism
1 5.0

A modern branch of Judaism that treats tradition in a more open, flexible way to fit modern life

Reform Jew
1 5.5

A person who follows a modern, more liberal form of Judaism

counter-reform
7.2

Opposing reforms to bring back older rules

counter-reform
7.4

An action that opposes and undoes earlier changes

pre-reform
6.1

The time before a big change

How Reformed

to redeem
57 6.1
to reform
57 4.4
to discipline
47 3.4

Surface Forms

reform infinitive
reformed past
reformed past participle
reforming present participle
reforms third person singular

Morphology

reform = form (opaque) = re + form

This moral-behavior sense is specialized and cannot be straightforwardly predicted from 'form again'.

Etymology

To reform a person comes from re- ('again') and formare ('to shape'), the same root as form. That's why to reform someone is to 'shape them again' into better habits or behavior.