What does "mend" mean?
Senses relating to improvement or repairing.; An act of repairing.
Mend
/mɛnd/ noun, verb
noun, verb ·Common ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Senses relating to improvement or repairing.; An act of repairing.
- Grammar: mend is listed as noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: fix, repair, restore, acculturate.
- Useful contrasts: active tearing, blistered, broken.
- Usage evidence: My trousers have a big rip in them and need mending.
How to use "mend"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "mend" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "mend" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "mend" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "mend" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "mend" is acting as noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "fix" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "mend", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Senses relating to improvement or repairing.; An act of repairing. countable
"My trousers have a big rip in them and need a mend."
- 2 the act of putting something in working order again wordnet
- 3 Senses relating to improvement or repairing.; A place in a thing (such as a tear in clothing) which has been repaired. countable
- 4 sewing that repairs a worn or torn hole (especially in a garment) wordnet
- 5 Senses relating to improvement or repairing.; Chiefly in on the mend: improvement in health; recovery from illness. uncountable
"Though he was fearfully weak, he found himself actually feeling better. The disease had spent itself, and the mend had begun."
Show 1 more definition
- 6 Recompense; restoration or reparation, especially (Christianity) from sin. obsolete, uncountable
Verb
- 1 To physically repair (something that is broken, defaced, decayed, torn, or otherwise damaged). transitive
"My trousers have a big rip in them and need mending."
- 2 restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken wordnet
- 3 To add fuel to (a fire). figuratively, transitive
"[I]n, you Rogue, and vvipe the pigges, and mend the fire, that they fall not, or I'le both baſte and roaſt you, till your eyes drop out, like 'hem."
- 4 heal or recover wordnet
- 5 To correct or put right (an error, a fault, etc.); to rectify, to remedy. figuratively, transitive
"Dro[mio of Syracuse]. […] [S]he ſvveats a man may goe ouer-ſhooes in the grime of it. / Anti[pholus of Syracuse]. That's a fault that vvater vvill mend."
Show 27 more definitions
- 6 To put (something) in a better state; to ameliorate, to improve, to reform, to set right. figuratively, transitive
"Her stutter was mended by a speech therapist."
- 7 To remove fault or sin from (someone, or their behaviour or character); to improve morally, to reform. figuratively, transitive
"Youle not endure him, god ſhall mend my ſoule, / Youle make a mutinie among my gueſts: […]"
- 8 In mend one's pace: to adjust (a pace or speed), especially to match that of someone or something else; also, to quicken or speed up (a pace). figuratively, transitive
"Cudgell thy braines no more about it, for your dull aſſe vvill not mend his pace vvith beating, […]"
- 9 To correct or put right the defects, errors, or faults of (something); to amend, to emend, to fix. archaic, figuratively, transitive
"Salt Earth and bitter are not fit to ſovv, / Nor vvill be tam'd or mended vvith the Plough."
- 10 To increase the quality of (someone or something); to better, to improve on; also, to produce something better than (something else). archaic, figuratively, transitive
"[N]ay he can ſing / A meane moſt meanely, and in huſhering, / Mende him vvho can, the Ladies call him ſvveete."
- 11 To make amends or reparation for (a wrong done); to atone. archaic, figuratively, transitive
"Yee may sir, (quoth he), mend three nayes with one yee."
- 12 To restore (someone or something) to a healthy state; to cure, to heal. figuratively, regional, transitive
"Yearly thy Herds in vigour vvill impair; / Recruit and mend 'em vvith thy Yearly care: […]"
- 13 To adjust or correctly position (something; specifically (nautical), a sail). obsolete, transitive
"VVhy he vvill looke vppon his boote, and ſing: mend the Ruffe and ſing, aske queſtions and ſing, picke his teeth, and ſing: I knovv a man that had this tricke of melancholy hold a goodly Mannor for a ſong."
- 14 To put out (a candle). obsolete, transitive
- 15 To add one or more things in order to improve (something, especially wages); to supplement; also, to remedy a shortfall in (something). figuratively, obsolete, transitive
"VVill you goe vvith me, vvee'll mend our dinner here?"
- 16 To relieve (distress); to alleviate, to ease. figuratively, obsolete, transitive
- 17 To reform (oneself). figuratively, obsolete, reflexive, transitive
"[B]id the diſhoneſt man mend himſelf, if he mend, he is no longer diſhoneſt; […]"
- 18 To improve the condition or fortune of (oneself or someone). also, figuratively, obsolete, reflexive, transitive
"[W]hatſoeuer is Nevv, is vnlooked for; And euer it mends Some, and pairs Other: […]"
- 19 To repair the clothes of (someone). England, obsolete, regional, transitive
""Ready?" said the old gentleman inquiringly, when his guests had been washed, mended, brushed, and brandied."
- 20 To cause (a person or animal) to gain weight; to fatten. Northern-Ireland, Scotland, figuratively, obsolete, transitive
- 21 Chiefly with the impersonal pronoun it: to provide a benefit to (someone); to advantage, to profit. Scotland, figuratively, obsolete, transitive
- 22 Of an illness: to become less severe; also, of an injury or wound, or an injured body part: to get better, to heal. figuratively, intransitive
"My long ſickneſſe / Of Health, and Liuing, novv begins to mend, […]"
- 23 Of a person: to become healthy again; to recover from illness. figuratively, intransitive
"The queen is mending of her gout, and intends to be brought in a chair to parliament when it meets, […]"
- 24 Now only in least said, soonest mended: to make amends or reparation. archaic, figuratively, intransitive
"You are in a peck of troubles, as most men are who are free-livers, and are led astray by artful and alluring females. However, as Lady Betty says, 'the least said the soonest mended.'"
- 25 To become morally improved or reformed. Scotland, figuratively, intransitive
"Let ſhame come vvhen it vvill, I doe not callit, / […] / Mend vvhen thou canſt, be better at thy leaſure, / I can be patient, […]"
- 26 Chiefly used together with make: to make repairs. intransitive, obsolete
"An evill pen, is that vvhich is ſouple or vveake, vvhich vvhen thou makeſt, or mendeſt, muſt haue a ſhort ſlit, and bee ſuffered to remaine great on both ſides, becauſe it is vveake; […]"
- 27 To advance to a better state; to become less bad or faulty; to improve. figuratively, intransitive, obsolete
"Then would ye mend as the fletcher mends his bolt, / Or sowre ale mendeth in summer, […]"
- 28 To improve in amount or price. figuratively, intransitive, obsolete
- 29 Of an error, fault, etc.: to be corrected or put right. figuratively, intransitive, obsolete
"Young men, whose passions are not a little unruly, give small hopes of their ever being considerable; the fire of youth will of course abate, and is a fault, if it be a fault, that mends every day; but surely, unless a man has fire in his youth, he can hardly have warmth in old age."
- 30 Followed by of: to recover from a bad state; to get better, to grow out of. figuratively, intransitive, obsolete
- 31 Of an animal: to gain weight, to fatten. Northern-Ireland, Scotland, figuratively, intransitive, obsolete
- 32 To advantage, to avail, to help. Scotland, figuratively, intransitive, obsolete
Example
"My trousers have a big rip in them and need mending."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "mend"?
Common synonyms include: fix, repair, restore, acculturate, advance, advancement.
How do you use "mend" in a sentence?
My trousers have a big rip in them and need mending.
How do you pronounce "mend"?
Pronounced /mɛnd/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English menden (“to cure; to do good to, benefit; to do or make better, improve; to get better, recover; to keep in a good state; to put right, amend; to reform, repent”), the aphetic form of amenden (“to alter, change (especially for the better); to atone; to chastise, punish; to correct, remedy, amend; to cure; to excel, surpass; to forgive; to get or make better, improve; to make ready; to mend, repair, restore; to get well, recover; to relieve”), or from its etymon Anglo-Norman amender and Old French amender (“to cure; to fix, repair; to set right, correct”) (modern French amender), from Latin ēmendāre, the present active infinitive of ēmendō (“to atone; to chastise, punish; to correct, remedy, amend; to cure”), from ē- (variant of ex- (prefix meaning ‘away; out’)) + mendum (“defect; error, fault”) (from Proto-Indo-European *mend- (“defect; fault”)) + -ō (suffix forming first-conjugation verbs).
Etymology 2
Partly: * (chiefly etymology 2 sense 2 (“recompense; restoration or reparation”)) from Middle English mend, mende (“cure, remedy; damages, recompense; atonement; penance; relief”), the aphetic form of amende, amendes (“retribution, amends; a fine; atonement; penance”) (though attested slightly earlier); or directly from its etymon Anglo-Norman amende, Middle French amende, and Old French amende (“a fine”) (modern French amende), from amender (verb) (see etymology 1); and * from mend (verb).