Reform
[rɪ'fɔːm] or [rɪ'fɔrm]
Definition
(noun.) a change for the better as a result of correcting abuses; 'justice was for sale before the reform of the law courts'.
(noun.) self-improvement in behavior or morals by abandoning some vice; 'the family rejoiced in the drunkard's reform'.
(noun.) a campaign aimed to correct abuses or malpractices; 'the reforms he proposed were too radical for the politicians'.
(verb.) change for the better; 'The lazy student promised to reform'; 'the habitual cheater finally saw the light'.
(verb.) make changes for improvement in order to remove abuse and injustices; 'reform a political system'.
(verb.) improve by alteration or correction of errors or defects and put into a better condition; 'reform the health system in this country'.
(verb.) break up the molecules of; 'reform oil'.
(verb.) produce by cracking; 'reform gas'.
(verb.) bring, lead, or force to abandon a wrong or evil course of life, conduct, and adopt a right one; 'The Church reformed me'; 'reform your conduct'.
Typist: Nathaniel--From WordNet
Definition
(v. t.) To put into a new and improved form or condition; to restore to a former good state, or bring from bad to good; to change from worse to better; to amend; to correct; as, to reform a profligate man; to reform corrupt manners or morals.
(v. i.) To return to a good state; to amend or correct one's own character or habits; as, a man of settled habits of vice will seldom reform.
(n.) Amendment of what is defective, vicious, corrupt, or depraved; reformation; as, reform of elections; reform of government.
Typed by Geoffrey
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. a. [1]. Correct, amend, ameliorate, meliorate, make better.[2]. Remodel, form anew.
v. n. Amend, become better.
n. Reformation, amendment.
Inputed by Logan
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Amend, ameliorate, correct, rectify, better, reclaim, regenerate, remodel,reconstitute, reorganize, improve
ANT:Corrupt, vitiate, worsen, deteriorate, perpetuate, stabilitate, confirm,impair, deform, stereotype
Inputed by Fidel
Definition
v.t. to form again or anew: to transform: to make better: to remove that which is objectionable from: to repair or improve: to reclaim.—v.i. to become better: to abandon evil: to be corrected or improved.—n. a forming anew: change amendment improvement: an extension or better distribution of parliamentary representation as in the Reform Bill.—adj. Refor′mable.—n. Reformā′tion the act of forming again: the act of reforming: amendment: improvement: the great religious revolution of the 16th century which gave rise to the various evangelical or Protestant organisations of Christendom.—adjs. Refor′mātive forming again or anew: tending to produce reform; Refor′mātory reforming: tending to produce reform.—n. an institution for reclaiming youths and children who have been convicted of crime.—adj. Reformed′ formed again or anew: changed: amended: improved: denoting the churches formed after the Reformation esp. those in which the Calvinistic doctrines and still more the Calvinistic polity prevail in contradistinction to the Lutheran.—ns. Refor′mer one who reforms: one who advocates political reform: one of those who took part in the Reformation of the 16th century; Refor′mist a reformer.—Reformed Presbyterians a Presbyterian denomination originating in Scotland (see Cameronian); Reform school a reformatory.
Checked by Archie
Unserious Contents or Definition
v. A thing that mostly satisfies reformers opposed to reformation.
Checked by Amy
Unserious Contents or Definition
In general, a periodic epidemic, starting with marked heat, followed by a high fever, and accompanied by a flow of ink in the newspapers, a discharge of words from the face and a rush of blood to the polls, leaving the victim a chronic invalid until the next campaign. In New York, reform has been confined to a Low attempt at government.
Checker: Truman
Examples
- It may be an admirable agent of reform, but it has ceased to be a church. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Things can't last as they are: there must be all sorts of reform soon, and then young fellows may be glad to come and study here. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- Present-day reform lays a great emphasis upon instruments and very little on the skilful use of them. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- And we shall always want talent in the House: reform as we will, we shall always want talent. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- His own aversion to reform, his fondness for vast epochs and his contempt for current effort have left most of his psychological laws in the region of interesting literary comment. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- So he took hold of all kinds of sociological ideas, and ideas of reform. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- And he means to take very high ground on Reform. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
- I began to feel the force of Mr. John Hobson's remark that if practical workers for social and industrial reforms continue to ignore principles . Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- But also he may sometimes be stirred by adverse circumstances to such a degree that he rises up against them and reforms them. Plato. The Republic.
- People nowadays were too busy--busy with reforms and movements, with fads and fetishes and frivolities--to bother much about their neighbours. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- This supplies us with a standard for judging reforms, and so makes clear what constructive action really is. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- The underlying tone of it is that society is made by man for man's uses, that reforms are inventions to be applied when by experiment they show their civilizing value. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- You read glowing articles in magazines about preachers who devote their time to housing reforms, milk supplies, the purging of the civil service. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- It is not the specific reforms that I wish to emphasize but the great possibilities they foreshadow. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- He thought it absurd, after he had reformed, and altered, and improved everywhere, to suit my notions, that I still remained unsatisfied. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Our humble family early embraced the reformed religion. Benjamin Franklin. Memoirs of Benjamin Franklin.
- How far she is really reformed or deteriorated in her secret self, is another question. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- I don't regret, far from it, having been roused to make the effort to be a reformed woman--but, indeed, indeed it was a weary life. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- But the promptness of General Sedgwick, who was personally present and commanded that part of our line, soon reformed it and restored order. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- The procession then reformed; the chairmen resumed their stations; and the march was re- commenced. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- That they should be reformed by work. Hemingway, Ernest. For Whom The Bell Tolls.
- Such a state, therefore, by reforming its coin, will not always be able to reform its currency. Adam Smith. An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.
- He was not able, however, to rally his men to attack Hancock's position, and withdrew from our front for the purpose of reforming. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
Edited by Janet