Ameliorationist

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    One who aims to improve a deficient or harmful institution, rather than to replace it.

    "Near-synonym: reformist"

Example

More examples

"This issue […] recalled for me a similar issue that was hot back in the waning days of Amerika's war on Indo-China, i.e., the rights of homosexuals to serve honorably in the military […] At that time, many homosexual activists ― certainly the more politically radical ― took a position contrary to the one voiced by the more Respectable (and institutionally-affiliated) gays. The radical queers possessed a thorough criticism of society; the ameliorationists didn't. The radicals said it was more important to wreck the Amerikan military machine rather than funneling gays into GI rags."

More for "ameliorationist"

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