Improve
[ɪm'pruːv] or [ɪm'pruv]
Definition
(v. t.) To disprove or make void; to refute.
(v. t.) To disapprove; to find fault with; to reprove; to censure; as, to improve negligence.
(v. t.) To make better; to increase the value or good qualities of; to ameliorate by care or cultivation; as, to improve land.
(v. t.) To use or employ to good purpose; to make productive; to turn to profitable account; to utilize; as, to improve one's time; to improve his means.
(v. t.) To advance or increase by use; to augment or add to; -- said with reference to what is bad.
(v. i.) To grow better; to advance or make progress in what is desirable; to make or show improvement; as, to improve in health.
(v. i.) To advance or progress in bad qualities; to grow worse.
(v. i.) To increase; to be enhanced; to rise in value; as, the price of cotton improves.
Typist: Ted
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Amend, mend, better, meliorate, ameliorate, make better.[2]. Use, make use of, turn to account, avail one's self of.[3]. Make a good use of, turn to good account, employ advantageously, make productive.[4]. Apply practically (as the doctrines of a discourse).
v. n. [1]. Mend, become better, get better, get on, gain ground, pick up.[2]. Make progress, take a step forward.[3]. (Com.) Increase, rise, be enhanced.
Checker: Wayne
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Better, amend, ameliorate, emend, correct, mend, rectify, reform,[SeeAMELIORATE]
Inputed by Bess
Definition
v.t. to make better: to advance in value or excellence: to correct: to employ to good purpose.—v.i. to grow better: to make progress: to increase: to rise (as prices).—ns. Improvabil′ity Improv′ableness.—adj. Improv′able able to be improved.—adv. Improv′ably.—ns. Improve′ment the act of improving: advancement or progress: increase addition; Improv′er one who improves: a pad worn by women to make the dress hang properly.—pr.p. and adj. Improv′ing tending to cause improvement.—adv. Improv′ingly.—Improve on or upon to bring to a better state by addition or amendment; Improve the occasion to point out a moral from some event that has just occurred.
Edited by Linda
Examples
- Who, then, shall conduct education so that humanity may improve? John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- I made the popularity of the subject a reason for going back to improve the acquaintance, and I have never since been the man I was. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- But you must improve it--yes, say you will--for I hate it all now! Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- I think you would always improve, Biddy, under any circumstances. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- Here was an opportunity for carrying out his new system with effect, if he chose to improve it. Charlotte Bronte. Shirley.
- I approved, for my part, the amusing one's self with poetry now and then, so far as to improve one's language, but no farther. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- However, private individuals and companies continued to invent and improve, and the civil war in America revolutionised the systems of warfare and its weapons. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- She is stouter, too, and altogether improved, continued Miss Rosalind, who was disposed to be very fat. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- Then came improved weighted and other safety valves to regulate and control this pressure. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Feeding and fattening countries, besides, must always be highly improved, whereas breeding countries are generally uncultivated. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- In every improved society, the farmer is generally nothing but a farmer; the manufacturer, nothing but a manufacturer. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- Galileo soon thereafter greatly improved and increased its capacity, and was the first to direct it towards the heavens. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- The improved instrument produces untempered tones without requiring extraordinary variations from the usual arrangement of the keys. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Butter already rancid can be improved by treatment with a stronger solution (8 drachms of acid to 1 gallon of water), followed by washing in pure water. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- This was a great advance, as a more accurate division of time was had by improving the isochronous properties of the vibrating escapement. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- Electricity can have no greater mission than improving, strengthening and upbuilding good homes. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- If I ever get better, and ever have a second opportunity of improving our acquaintance-- He got up. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- Why should not the law of nations go on improving? Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- We next went to the school of languages, where three professors sat in consultation upon improving that of their own country. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- Upon their present plan, they have little opportunity of improving themselves by the example of any other nation, except that of the Japanese. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The young swarm of Hypanians, who may be advanced one hour in life, approach his person with respect, and listen to his improving discourse. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- The manufacturers first supply the neighbourhood, and afterwards, as their work improves and refines, more distant markets. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- But I think Mr. Darcy improves upon acquaintance. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- But what improves the circumstances of the greater part, can never be regarded as any inconveniency to the whole. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- They must begin with some quickness of sight and hand, and exercise improves them. Jane Austen. Emma.
- The wages of labour are the encouragement of industry, which, like every other human quality, improves in proportion to the encouragement it receives. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- The dairy becomes more worthy of the farmer's attention, and the quality of its produce gradually improves. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- If he improves at all, it is commonly not with a capital, but with what he can save out or his annual revenue. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
Typist: Mason