Adjacent Words

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

IMPROVE, v.t. improov'. [L. in and probo, to prove, or the adjective probus.]
1. To make better; to advance in value or good qualities. We amend a bad, but improve a good thing.
A good education improves the mind and the manners. A judicious rotation of crops tends to improve land.
2. To use or employ to good purpose; to make productive; to turn to profitable account; to use for advantage; to employ for advancing interest, reputation or happiness.
Many opportunities occur of improving money, which,if a man misses,he may not afterwards recover.
Melissus was a man of parts, capable or enjoying and improving life.
True policy as well as good faith, in my opinion, binds us to improve the occasion.
This success was not improved.
Those who enjoy the advantage of better instruction,should improve their privileges.
They were aware of the advantages of their position, and improved them with equal skill and diligence.
Those moments were diligently improved.
The candidate improved his advantages.
A hint that I do not remember to have seen opened and improved.
Whatever interest we have at the throne of grace,should be improved in behalf of others.
The court seldom fails to improve the opportunity.
My lords, no time should be lost, which may promise to improve this disposition in America.
If we neglect to improve our knowledge to the ends for which it was given--
It is the fault of persons not improving that light.
The shorter the time--the more eager were they to improve it.
A young minister wishing to improve the occasion--
3. To apply to practical purposes; as, to improve a discourse, or the doctrines stated and proved in a sermon.
4. To advance or increase by use; in a bad sense.
I fear we have not a little improved the wretched inheritance of our ancestors.
5. To use; to employ; as, to improve a witness of a deposition.
Let even the coach, the inns, or the ships be improved as openings for useful instruction.
6. To use; to occupy; to cultivate. The house or the farm is now improved by an industrious tenant.
This application is perhaps peculiar to some parts of the U. States. It however deviates little from that in some of the forgoing definitions.
IMPROVE, v.i. improov'. To grow better or wiser; to advance in goodness, knowledge, wisdom or other excellence. We are pleased to see our children improve in knowledge and virtue. A farm improves under judicious management. The artisan improves by experience. It is the duty,as it is the desire of a good man, to improve in grace and piety.
We take care to improve in our frugality and diligence.
1. To advance in bad qualities; to grow worse.
Domitian improved in cruelty toward the end of his reign.
[I regret to see this word thus used, or rather perverted.]
2. To increase; to be enhanced; to rise.
The price of cotton improves, or is improved.
[A mercantile and modern use of the word.]
To improve on, to make useful additions or amendments to; to bring nearer to perfection; as, to improve on the mode of tillage usually practiced.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: to make better; "The editor improved the manuscript with his changes" [syn: better, improve, amend, ameliorate, meliorate] [ant: aggravate, exacerbate, exasperate, worsen]
2: get better; "The weather improved toward evening" [syn: better, improve, ameliorate, meliorate] [ant: decline, worsen]

Merriam Webster's

verb (improved; improving) Etymology: Middle English improuen, emprouen, from Anglo-French emprouer to make profit from, from French en- + pru, prou advantage, from Late Latin prode — more at proud Date: circa 1529 transitive verb 1. archaic employ, use 2. a. to enhance in value or quality ; make better b. to increase the value of (land or property) by making it more useful for humans (as by cultivation or the erection of buildings) c. to grade and drain (a road) and apply surfacing material other than pavement 3. to use to good purpose intransitive verb 1. to advance or make progress in what is desirable 2. to make useful additions or amendments • improvability noun • improvable adjective • improver noun Synonyms: improve, better, help, ameliorate mean to make more acceptable or to bring nearer a standard. improve and better are general and interchangeable and apply to what can be made better whether it is good or bad <measures to further improve the quality of medical care> <immigrants hoping to better their lot>. help implies a bettering that still leaves room for improvement <a coat of paint would help that house>. ameliorate implies making more tolerable or acceptable conditions that are hard to endure <tried to ameliorate the lives of people in the tenements>.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 a tr. & intr. make or become better. b intr. (foll. by on, upon) produce something better than. 2 absol. (as improving adj.) giving moral benefit (improving literature). Etymology: orig. emprowe, improwe f. AF emprower f. OF emprou f. prou profit, infl. by PROVE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Improve Im*prove", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Improved; p. pr. & vb. n. Improving.] [Pref. in- in + prove, in approve. See Approve, Prove.] 1. To make better; to increase the value or good qualities of; to ameliorate by care or cultivation; as, to improve land. --Donne. I love not to improve the honor of the living by impairing that of the dead. --Denham. 2. 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. --Shak. We shall especially honor God by improving diligently the talents which God hath committed to us. --Barrow. A hint that I do not remember to have seen opened and improved. --Addison. The court seldom fails to improve the oppotunity. --Blackstone. How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour. --I. Watts. Those moments were diligently improved. --Gibbon. True policy, as well as good faith, in my opinion, binds us to improve the occasion. --Washington. 3. To advance or increase by use; to augment or add to; -- said with reference to what is bad. [R.] We all have, I fear, . . . not a little improved the wretched inheritance of our ancestors. --Bp. Porteus. Syn: To better; meliorate; ameliorate; advance; heighten; mend; correct; recify; amend; reform.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Improve Im*prove", v. t. [Pref. im- not + prove: cf. L. improbare, F. improuver.] 1. To disprove or make void; to refute. [Obs.] Neither can any of them make so strong a reason which another can not improve. --Tyndale. 2. To disapprove; to find fault with; to reprove; to censure; as, to improve negligence. [Obs.] --Chapman. When he rehearsed his preachings and his doing unto the high apostles, they could improve nothing. --Tyndale.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Improve Im*prove", v. i. 1. To grow better; to advance or make progress in what is desirable; to make or show improvement; as, to improve in health. We take care to improve in our frugality and diligence. --Atterbury. 2. To advance or progress in bad qualities; to grow worse. ``Domitain improved in cruelty.'' --Milner. 3. To increase; to be enhanced; to rise in value; as, the price of cotton improves. To improve on or upon, to make useful additions or amendments to, or changes in; to bring nearer to perfection; as, to improve on the mode of tillage.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(improves, improving, improved) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. If something improves or if you improve it, it gets better. Both the texture and condition of your hair should improve... Time won't improve the situation... VERB: V, V n 2. If a skill you have improves or you improve a skill, you get better at it. Their French has improved enormously... He said he was going to improve his football. VERB: V, V n 3. If you improve after an illness or an injury, your health gets better or you get stronger. He had improved so much the doctor had cut his dosage. = recover VERB: V 4. If you improve on a previous achievement of your own or of someone else, you achieve a better standard or result. We need to improve on our performance against France. VERB: V on n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Amend, mend, better, meliorate, ameliorate, make better, rectify. 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. II. v. n. 1. Mend, gain, become better, get better, get on, gain ground, pick up. 2. Make progress, take a step forward. 3. (Com.) Increase, rise, be enhanced.

Moby Thesaurus

accommodate, acculturate, adapt, adjust, advance, alter, ameliorate, amend, apprentice, be changed, be converted into, be renewed, benefit, benefit from, best, better, boost, bottom out, brace up, break, break in, break up, breed, bring forward, bring up, cap, capitalize on, cash in on, change, checker, chop, chop and change, civilize, come about, come along, come around, come on, come round, complete, condition, convalesce, convert, correct, crown, culminate, cultivate, deform, degenerate, denature, deteriorate, develop, deviate, discipline, diverge, diversify, do to perfection, drill, edify, edit, educate, elevate, emend, enhance, enlighten, enrich, exceed, excel, exercise, exploit, fatten, favor, fetch up, fit, fix up, flop, form, forward, foster, further, gain, gain ground, gain strength, get ahead, get along, get better, go ahead, go forward, go one better, go straight, graduate, groom, grow better, haul around, help, house-train, housebreak, illume, illumine, improve on, improve the occasion, improve upon, increase, irradiate, jibe, lard, lick into shape, lift, look up, make an improvement, make capital of, make hay, make headway, make progress, make strides, mature, meliorate, mend, mitigate, modernize, modify, modulate, mutate, nurse, nurture, outweigh, overbalance, overbear, overcome, overhaul, overpass, overthrow, overtop, perfect, perk up, pick up, practice, predominate, prepare, preponderate, prevail, profit by, progress, promote, put in tune, put right, put to advantage, put to school, qualify, raise, rally, re-create, ready, realign, rear, rebuild, recondition, reconstruct, recover, recruit, rectify, recuperate, redeem, redesign, redress, refine, refine upon, refit, reform, refurbish, rehabilitate, rehearse, remake, remedy, remodel, renew, renovate, repair, reshape, restructure, revamp, revise, revive, ring the changes, ripen, rub up, send to school, set right, shape up, shift, shift the scene, show improvement, shuffle the cards, skyrocket, sleep it off, socialize, straighten out, strengthen, subvert, surpass, swerve, tack, take a turn, take advantage of, take in hand, take off, top, tower above, tower over, trade on, train, transcend, transfigure, transform, trump, turn, turn aside, turn into, turn the corner, turn the scale, turn the tables, turn the tide, turn to account, turn to profit, turn to use, turn upside down, undergo a change, update, upgrade, uplift, use to advantage, vary, veer, warp, work a change, worsen