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Amends

[uh-mendz]

Example Sentences Origin

noun (used with a singular or plural verb

)

reparation or compensation for a loss, damage, or injury of any kind; recompense.

Obsolete. improvement; recovery, as of health.

Idiom

make amends, to compensate, as for an injury, loss, or insult: I tried to make amends for the misunderstanding by sending her flowers.

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Amends is always a great word to know.

So is ort. Does it mean:

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

a screen or mat covered with a dark material for shielding a camera lens from excess light or glare.

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Origin:
1275–1325; Middle English amendes < Middle French, plural of amende reparation, noun derivative of amender to amend

Synonyms
1. redress, restitution.

Example Sentences

He volunteered to make amends by writing a song about the professor's monograph on sweatshop labor.

Its pursuit of stability above democracy has damaged its image, but it can make amends now.

Let me make amends for that shortfall by reading the report.

EXPAND

Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used with object)

to alter, modify, rephrase, or add to or subtract from (a motion, bill, constitution, etc.) by formal procedure: Congress may amend the proposed tax bill.

to change for the better; improve: to amend one's ways.

to remove or correct faults in; rectify.

verb (used without object)

to grow or become better by reforming oneself: He amends day by day.

Origin:
1175–1225; Middle English amenden < Old French amender < Latin ēmendāre to correct, equivalent to ē- e- + mend(a) blemish + -āre infinitive suffix

Related forms

a·mend·a·ble, adjective

a·mend·er, noun

non·a·mend·a·ble, adjective

re·a·mend, verb

un·a·mend·a·ble, adjective

EXPAND

un·a·mend·ed, adjective

un·a·mend·ing, adjective

well-a·mend·ed, adjective

COLLAPSE

Can be confused: amenable, amendable, emendable.

Synonyms
2. ameliorate, better. 3. Amend, emend both mean to improve by correcting or by freeing from error. Amend is the general term, used of any such correction in detail: to amend spelling, punctuation, grammar. Emend usually applies to the correction of a text in the process of editing or preparing for publication; it implies improvement in the sense of greater accuracy: He emended the text of the play by restoring the original reading. 4. improve, ameliorate.

Antonyms
2, 4. worsen.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To Amends

Collins

World English Dictionary

amends (əˈmɛndz)

—n
	(functioning as singular) recompense or compensation given or gained for some injury, insult, etc: to make amends

[C13: from Old French amendes fines, from amende compensation, from amender to emend]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

amend

early 13c., "to free from faults, rectify," from O.Fr. amender (12c.), from L. emendare "to correct, free from fault," from ex- "out" + menda "fault, blemish" (cognate with Skt. minda "physical blemish," O.Ir. mennar "stain, blemish," Welsh mann "sign, mark"). Supplanted in senses of "repair, cure"

EXPAND

by its aphetic offspring mend (q.v.). Meaning "to add to legislation" (ostensibly to correct or improve it) is recorded from 1777.

amends

early 14c., "restitution," collective singular, from O.Fr. amendes "fine, penalty," pl. of amende "reparation," from amender "to amend" (see amend).

COLLAPSE

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

amends

see make amends.