Adjacent Words

Amend definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

AMEND', v.t. [L. emendo, of e neg, and menda, mendum, a fault. See mend.]
1. To correct; to rectify by expunging a mistake; as, to amend a law.
2. To reform, by quitting bad habits; to make better in a moral sense; as, to amend our ways or our conduct.
3. To correct; to supply a defect; to improve or make better, by some addition of what is wanted, as well as by expunging what is wrong, as to amend a bill before a legislature. Hence it is applied to the correction of authors, by restoring passages which had been omitted, or restoring the true reading.
AMEND', v.i. To grow or become better, by reformation, or rectifying something wrong in manners or morals. It differs from improve, in this, that to amend implies something previously wrong; to improve, does not.
AMEND', A pecuniary punishment, or fine. The amende honorable, in France, is an infamous punishment inflicted on traitors, parricides and sacrilegious persons. The offender,being led into court with a rope about his neck, begs pardon of his God, the court, etc. These words denote also a recantation in open court, or in presence of the injured person.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: make amendments to; "amend the document"
2: to make better; "The editor improved the manuscript with his changes" [syn: better, improve, amend, ameliorate, meliorate] [ant: aggravate, exacerbate, exasperate, worsen]
3: set straight or right; "remedy these deficiencies"; "rectify the inequities in salaries"; "repair an oversight" [syn: rectify, remediate, remedy, repair, amend]

Merriam Webster's

verb Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French amender, modification of Latin emendare, from e, ex out + menda fault; akin to Latin mendax lying, mendicus beggar, and perhaps to Sanskrit mind? physical defect Date: 13th century transitive verb 1. to put right; especially to make emendations in (as a text) 2. a. to change or modify for the better ; improve <amend the situation> b. to alter especially in phraseology; especially to alter formally by modification, deletion, or addition <amend a constitution> intransitive verb to reform oneself Synonyms: see correct • amendable adjective • amender noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. 1 make minor improvements in (a text or a written proposal). 2 correct an error or errors in (a document). 3 make better; improve. Usage: Often confused with emend, a more technical word used in the context of textual correction. Derivatives: amendable adj. amender n. Etymology: ME f. OF amender ult. f. L emendare EMEND

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Amend A*mend", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Amended; p. pr. & vb. n. Amending.] [F. amender, L. emendare; e (ex) + mendum, menda, fault, akin to Skr. minda personal defect. Cf. Emend, Mend.] To change or modify in any way for the better; as, (a) by simply removing what is erroneous, corrupt, superfluous, faulty, and the like; (b) by supplying deficiencies; (c) by substituting something else in the place of what is removed; to rectify.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Amend A*mend" ([.a]*m[e^]nd"), v. i. To grow better by rectifying something wrong in manners or morals; to improve. ``My fortune . . . amends.'' --Sir P. Sidney.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(amends, amending, amended) 1. If you amend something that has been written such as a law, or something that is said, you change it in order to improve it or make it more accurate. The president agreed to amend the constitution and allow multi-party elections... ...the amended version of the Act. = revise VERB: V n, V-ed 2. If you make amends when you have harmed someone, you show that you are sorry by doing something to please them. He wanted to make amends for causing their marriage to fail. PHRASE: V inflects, oft PHR for n/-ing

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. Improve, mend, correct, rectify, reform. See ameliorate. II. v. n. Improve, mend, become better.

Moby Thesaurus

acculturate, advance, ameliorate, better, blue-pencil, boost, bring forward, civilize, come along, come on, compensate, correct, develop, edify, edit, educate, elevate, emend, emendate, enhance, enlighten, enrich, fatten, favor, fix, forward, foster, gain, gain ground, get ahead, get along, give satisfaction, go ahead, go forward, go straight, graduate, grow better, improve, improve upon, lard, lift, look up, make all square, make an improvement, make good, make headway, make progress, make right, make strides, meliorate, mend, new-model, nurture, pay reparations, perk up, pick up, progress, promote, put right, put straight, put to rights, raise, re-form, recense, reclaim, recompense, rectify, redact, redeem, redraft, redress, refashion, refine upon, reform, regenerate, remedy, remodel, remunerate, renew, repair, requite, reshape, restore self-respect, revamp, revise, rework, rewrite, right, set right, set straight, set to rights, set up, shape up, show improvement, skyrocket, socialize, straighten out, take off, transfigure, transform, upgrade, uplift, work over