verb ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Verb

1. 1
   To make better, or improve, something perceived to be in a negative condition. transitive

   "They offered some compromises in an effort to ameliorate the situation."

2. 2
   get better wordnet
3. 3
   To become better; improve. intransitive
4. 4
   to make better wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

betterimproveaccommodateacculturateadaptadjust

Antonyms

All antonyms

aggravatedeterioratenerfworsen

Example

More examples

"Financial reforms may ameliorate the current economic difficulties."

Etymology

Alteration of meliorate after French améliorer.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.