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melioration

- 3 dictionary results

mel⋅io⋅ra⋅tion

[meel-yuh-rey-shuhn, mee-lee-uh-]
–noun
1. Historical Linguistics. semantic change in a word to a more approved or more respectable meaning. Compare pejoration (def. 2).
2. amelioration.

Origin:
1620–30; < LL meliōrātiōn- (s. of meliōrātiō), equiv. to meliōrāt(us) (see meliorate ) + -iōn- -ion
mel·io·ra·tion   (mēl'yə-rā'shən, mē'lē-ə-)   
n.  
    1. The act or process of improving something or the state of being improved.
    2. An improvement.
  1. The linguistic process by which a word over a period of time grows more elevated in meaning or more positive in connotation.

Melioration

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