meliorate

M3E1L1I1O1R1A1T1E1
/ˈmiːli.əɹeɪt/

verb

To make better; to improve; to solve a problem.

“They offered some compromises in an effort to meliorate the disagreement.”

Similar
amelioraterefineresolvework outaprimorate (non-native speakers’ English (chiefly Portuguese))amendbattenbetter
OriginLate Latin meliorātus →
Scrabble 11
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbmeliorate (third-person singular simple present meliorates, present participle meliorating, simple past and past participle meliorated)

present singular third person meliorates · participle present meliorating · participle past meliorated · past meliorated

  1. transitiveTo make better; to improve; to solve a problem.

    They offered some compromises in an effort to meliorate the disagreement.

    2 more examples

    Nature by art we nobly meliorate.

    1648, John Denham, Cato Major

    June 8, 1783, George Washington, Circular to the States […] and the pure and benign light of revelation have had a meliorating influence on mankind.

    Synonyms: ameliorate, refine, resolve, work out, ameliorate, aprimorate (non-native speakers’ English (chiefly Portuguese)), amend, batten

  2. intransitiveTo become better.

    Synonyms: age like a fine wine, amend, heal, improve

Synonyms & antonyms

verbTo make better; to improve; to solve a problem.

Similar
amelioraterefineresolvework outameliorateaprimorate (non-native speakers’ English (chiefly Portuguese))amendbattenbetterenhancehoneimproverefineget betterlook upabsolvedecipherget to the bottom ofiron out

verbTo become better.

Similar
age like a fine wineamendhealimprove

More synonyms by meaning

verbto make better

Similar
betterimproveamendameliorate
Broader
changealtermodify

verbget better

Similar
betterimproveameliorateamend
Broader
change stateturn
Also see
ameliorateamendaprimoratebetterdecipherget to the bottom ofimproveiron outlook uppuzzle outravelreason outresolverevampriddlesleuthsolvetease outthink outunpuzzleunravelunriddleunsolvework out

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Late Latinmeliorātus
  2. Englishmeliorate

First attested in 1542; borrowed from Late Latin meliorātus, perfect passive participle of meliorō (see -ate (verb-forming suffix)), from melior (“better”).

More words from Late Latin

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

meliorate. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meliorate

MLA

“meliorate.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meliorate. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “meliorate,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/meliorate.

Source: meliorate on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.