ameliorate
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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ameliorates,
present (3rd person singular)
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ameliorated,
past participle, past
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ameliorating
present participle
verb
Usage
What are other ways to say ameliorate?
To ameliorate is to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory. How is it different from the verbs improve and better? Find out on Thesaurus.com.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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ameliorablenessnoun
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ameliorantnoun
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amelioratornoun
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ameliorableadjective
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ameliorativeadjective
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amelioratoryadjective
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unameliorableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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amelioratesimple
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amelioratessimple
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have amelioratedperfect
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has amelioratedperfect
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am amelioratingprogressive
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are amelioratingprogressive
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is amelioratingprogressive
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have been amelioratingperfect progressive
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has been amelioratingperfect progressive
Past
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amelioratedsimple
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had amelioratedperfect
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was amelioratingprogressive
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were amelioratingprogressive
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had been amelioratingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of ameliorate
Explanation
To ameliorate is to step in and make a bad situation better. You could try introducing a second lollipop to ameliorate a battle between two toddlers over a single lollipop. The verb ameliorate comes from the Latin word meliorare, meaning “improve.” Food drives can ameliorate hunger. An air conditioner can ameliorate the discomfort of a stiflingly hot summer day. A sympathy card can ameliorate grief. Family therapy can ameliorate severe sibling rivalry. Anything that can lift a burden or make something better can ameliorate.
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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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:
If we must open ourselves up to books, are there any that either ameliorate this danger, or else make reading them worthwhile?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 19, 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 mandatory two-stop has been arrived at as a necessary evil - introducing an element of artificiality to ameliorate a specific problem.
From BBC ● Mar. 11, 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
But a strange, melancholic case of timing ameliorates the documentary’s primary flaw: It didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know.
From Salon ● Dec. 19, 2024
"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
Charity, while wonderful, ameliorates the symptoms of inequality, but it does not address its root causes.
From The Guardian ● Jan. 27, 2020
You say “at first” you turned down their advances, as if that somehow ameliorates your later decision to accept their advances.
From Slate ● Oct. 28, 2019
There seems to be something in a southern clime which ameliorates harshness of manners.
From The Empire of Russia by John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
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
The judge said his segregation was ameliorated by him being allowed "some three hours per day out of his cell, which is more than twice the time allowed to convicted prisoners held in segregation".
From BBC ● Mar. 21, 2025
Spring drew on: she was indeed already come; the frosts of winter had ceased; its snows were melted, its cutting winds ameliorated.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
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
To establish its functional roles for ameliorating constipation in humans, the researchers used a clinical trial and a human-to-mouse fecal microbiota transplantation experiment in combination with metagenomics and metabolomics.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 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
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
