Ameliorate

[ə-meel-yə-rayt]Part of speech: verb

Origin: latin, 16th century

To improve or make more tolerable
To alleviate

Examples of Ameliorate in a sentence

The massage I received helped to ameliorate my back pain.
We need to think of ways to ameliorate the high turnover rate in the company.

"Illya, we can ameliorate the damages to our mission... I promise."

About Ameliorate

Throughout history, people have come up with some strange ways of ameliorating — or making better — symptoms of sickness or ill health. For many years, mercury was believed to cure ailments, heal injuries, and prolong life. We now know that mercury is extremely poisonous and deadly if consumed in large amounts.

Did you Know?

Ameliorate doesn't just describe something getting better or improving. It's used exclusively to refer to something that is currently in a bad or negative state that's then improved to a degree.