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ameliorate

[uh-meel-yuh-reyt, uh-mee-lee-uh-] / əˈmil jəˌreɪt, əˈmi li ə- /


Usage

What are other ways to say ameliorate?

The formal word ameliorate implies improving oppressive, unjust, or difficult conditions: to ameliorate working conditions. Improve usually implies remedying a lack or a felt need: to improve a process, oneself (as by gaining more knowledge). To better is to improve conditions which, though not bad, are unsatisfying: to better an attempt, oneself (as by gaining a higher salary).


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

His writings undergirded his cabinet’s reforms in the 1870s to ameliorate living and working conditions.

From The Wall Street Journal Jul. 12, 2026

The biggest risks to birds come from the climate: “Two-thirds of North American birds are at increasing risk of extinction from global temperature rise,” the society reported — a threat that wind power can ameliorate.

From Los Angeles Times May 14, 2026

Exercising for two hours a day can partially ameliorate this issue, but it doesn’t prevent the problem entirely.

From Slate Mar. 1, 2026

The three paragraphs on Africa at the end spoke about partnering with "select countries to ameliorate conflict, foster mutually beneficial trade relationships" and move from supplying aid to encouraging investment and economic growth.

From BBC Feb. 12, 2026

The accused have told me and their counsel have told me that the accused who were all leaders of the non-European population were motivated entirely by a desire to ameliorate these grievances.

From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela

"Overall, greater international co-operation is needed to ensure that ESG and climate transition-related practices progress in a manner that ameliorates the current market fragmentation, and strengthens investor confidence and market integrity."

From Reuters Oct. 4, 2021

Exercise improves cardiac health, reduces the risk of cancer, and ameliorates anxiety and depression.

From Slate Jun. 19, 2021

This level of fascination blocks any competing thoughts or worries from bubbling to the surface and allows for a quiet focus that not only ameliorates anxiety but benefits us cognitively as well.

From Salon Mar. 21, 2020

Charity, while wonderful, ameliorates the symptoms of inequality, but it does not address its root causes.

From The Guardian Jan. 27, 2020

I was not of her class, neither was I to the alley born, but sailed in the sane mid-channel that ameliorates the distinction between high and low life.

From Our Next-Door Neighbors by Belle Kanaris Maniates

On that, Buchbinder is optimistic that a key cause of rising rates, higher energy costs, will be ameliorated in coming months.

From MarketWatch Aug. 14, 2026

The 40-foot elevation drop from the General Hospital forecourt to the commercial hub will be ameliorated by raising the low area about 20 feet.

From Los Angeles Times Jun. 12, 2026

It would have been a lot to ask that Simkhovitch, idealistic and self-sacrificing, predict that immigrant poverty and its housing conditions would be ameliorated with time.

From The Wall Street Journal Feb. 24, 2026

Medication also ameliorated the physical symptoms of anxiety and hypervigilance.

From BBC Jan. 25, 2025

We have ameliorated on a planetary scale injustices that only recently were global and endemic.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

Her conundrum has lately been making me think about Daniel Shapiro's fascinating book, "Negotiating the Nonnegotiable," and his clear-eyed examination of the roles of tribalism and identity in accelerating conflict — and in ameliorating it.

From Salon Apr. 23, 2025

Whatever you think of their intended goals, they would also have an unintended effect of ameliorating one of the worst features of the property tax: its localism.

From Slate Jan. 6, 2025

The researchers employed a novel computational method developed earlier by Morgun and Shulzhenko, transkingdom network analysis, to uncover TXN's mechanism for ameliorating metabolic syndrome.

From Science Daily Sep. 21, 2023

“Successful conservation of the pinyon jay requires addressing and ameliorating multiple threats simultaneously.”

From Seattle Times Apr. 26, 2022

She had a notion about the air down here and its ameliorating effects on the circulation.

From "The Underground Railroad: A Novel" by Colson Whitehead




Vocabulary lists containing ameliorate


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