amend
Americanverb (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.
- Synonyms:
- correct, remedy, better, ameliorate
- Antonyms:
- worsen
verb (used without object)
verb
-
to improve; change for the better
-
to remove faults from; correct
-
to alter or revise (legislation, a constitution, etc) by formal procedure
Related Words
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.
Other Word Forms
- amendable adjective
- amender noun
- nonamendable adjective
- reamend verb
- unamendable adjective
- unamending adjective
Etymology
Origin of amend
First recorded in 1175–1225; Middle English amenden, from Old French amender, from Latin ēmendāre “to correct,” equivalent to ē- “out of, from” + mend(a) “blemish” + -āre infinitive suffix; e- 1
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.
In the late 1990s, for example, Congress was considering amending the Fed’s mandate exclusively to price stability through the introduction of the Economic Growth and Price Stability Act.
From Barron's
Legislators could amend the state Constitution to make sheriffs appointed instead of elected — the same as police chiefs.
From Los Angeles Times
When we married, he amended the trust, made me the executor, and left me 75%, with the remaining 25% going to his sister.
From MarketWatch
It was too late to mother her daughter, and too late to be a good daughter to her mother, but she could make amends via her grandchild.
From Literature
Now McGinn sees this World Cup as "a chance to amend it" having "not done ourselves justice in the last couple of tournaments".
From BBC
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.
