to meliorate
- verb
- /ˈmɛliəˌreɪt/
- The new policies are designed to meliorate the living conditions of low-income families.
Examples
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Chapter Four examines Richard Whitford's orthodox program of monastic and social reform that aimed not only to meliorate the individual's ethical life but also to revitalize Catholicism and engage directly with Protestantism.
Blog text (5) -
They "resisted every effort to meliorate their situation, or to introduce among them the most common arts of life," he wrote; they remained morally and intellectually "stationary." 50
Academic text (2008) -
Be it thine to meliorate the condition of man.
Academic text (2011) -
She is working hard to meliorate her skills in order to advance her career.
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The charity's goal is to meliorate the educational opportunities available to underprivileged children.
Synonyms
To make something better
To make something better by adding knowledge or nutrients
Make something work as well as possible
To improve something
To make a bad situation better
Antonyms
How Improved
Surface Forms
Morphology
meliorate = ameliorate (semi-transparent) = melior + ate
The word is plausibly formed by removing the initial 'a' from 'ameliorate', but 'melior' is not a standalone English base so learners may only partially recognise the relation.
Etymology
Meliorate comes from the Latin root melior, which means 'better', plus the verb ending -ate, so to meliorate something is simply to make it 'better'.