melioration

2 definitions found

melioration - Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 :

  Melioration \Mel`io*ra"tion\, n. [L. melioratio.]
     The act or operation of meliorating, or the state of being
     meliorated; improvement. --Bacon.
     [1913 Webster]

melioration - WordNet (r) 2.1 (2005) :

  melioration
      n 1: the act of relieving ills and changing for the better [syn:
           amelioration, melioration, betterment]
      2: a condition superior to an earlier condition; "the new school
         represents a great improvement" [syn: improvement,
         melioration] [ant: declination, decline]
      3: the linguistic process in which over a period of time a word
         grows more positive in connotation or more elevated in
         meaning