ameliorate
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.
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
Bringing Keller and Knight onstage somewhat sweetened the awkward position in which the show placed Storrie, but it doesn’t entirely ameliorate the White House’s intrusion into both hockey teams’ Olympic glory.
From Salon • Mar. 6, 2026
It suggests something more uncomfortable: that how protests are conducted determines whether they clarify and ameliorate injustice or obscure and perpetuate it.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 16, 2026
Ideally, Owens and Erika Kirk could find alignment, and ameliorate some of Owens’ more looney ideas.
From Slate • Dec. 22, 2025
No matter how sedulously Ben and Mary Anne prepared for the nightmare, nothing could ameliorate their discomfort at entering a new high school for their annual pilgrimage among strangers.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
Vocabulary lists containing ameliorate
100 SAT Words Beginning with "A"
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The Crucible
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Frankenstein
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