1. (

• amelioration ,
• melioration ,
• betterment

) the act of relieving ills and changing for the better ;

2. (

• improvement ,
• melioration

) a condition superior to an earlier condition; "the new school represents a great improvement" ;

3. (

• melioration

) the linguistic process in which over a period of time a word grows more positive in connotation or more elevated in meaning ;