improvement

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: im=prove=ment

CIDE DICTIONARY

improvement, n. 

•  The act of improving; advancement or growth; promotion in desirable qualities; progress toward what is better; melioration; as, the improvement of the mind, of land, roads, etc.  [1913 Webster]

  "I look upon your city as the best place of improvement."  [1913 Webster]

  "Exercise is the chief source of improvement in all our faculties."  [1913 Webster]
•  The act of making profitable use or applicaton of anything, or the state of being profitably employed; a turning to good account; practical application, as of a doctrine, principle, or theory, stated in a discourse.  S. Clarke.  [1913 Webster]

  "I shall make some improvement of this doctrine."  [1913 Webster]
•  The state of being improved; betterment; advance; also, that which is improved; as, the new edition is an improvement on the old.  [1913 Webster]

  "The parts of Sinon, Camilla, and some few others, are improvements on the Greek poet."  [1913 Webster]
•  Increase; growth; progress; advance.  [1913 Webster]

  "There is a design of publishing the history of architecture, with its several improvements and decays."  [1913 Webster]

  "Those vices which more particularly receive improvement by prosperity."  [1913 Webster]
•  Valuable additions or betterments, as buildings, clearings, drains, fences, etc., on land or premises; as, to convey the land together with all improvements.  [1913 Webster]
•  A useful addition to, or modification of, a machine, manufacture, or composition.  Kent.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

improvement, n.
1 the act or an instance of improving or being improved.
2 something that improves, esp. an addition or alteration that adds to value.
3 something that has been improved.

Etymology

ME f. AF emprowement (as IMPROVE)

THESAURUS

improvement

about-face, accommodation, adaptation, adjustment, advance, alteration, amelioration, amendment, apostasy, apprenticeship, basic training, betterment, break, breaking, breeding, change, change of allegiance, change of heart, change of mind, changeableness, conditioning, constructive change, continuity, convalescence, conversion, cultivation, defection, degeneration, degenerative change, deterioration, development, deviation, difference, discipline, discontinuity, divergence, diversification, diversion, diversity, drill, drilling, enhancement, exercise, fetching-up, fitting, flip-flop, fostering, gain, gradual change, grooming, housebreaking, in-service training, increase, instauration, manual training, melioration, military training, mitigation, modification, modulation, new birth, nurture, nurturing, on-the-job training, overthrow, practice, preparation, progress, qualification, radical change, raising, re-creation, reactivation, readying, realignment, rearing, rebirth, reclamation, reconstitution, reconversion, recovery, recrudescence, recuperation, redemption, redesign, redintegration, reenactment, reestablishment, reform, reformation, regeneration, rehabilitation, rehearsal, reinstatement, reinstation, reinstitution, reinvestiture, reinvestment, remaking, renascence, renewal, repair, replacement, reshaping, restitution, restoration, restructuring, reversal, reversion, revival, revivification, revolution, rise, shift, sloyd, sudden change, switch, total change, training, transition, turn, turnabout, upbringing, upgrading, upheaval, upswing, variation, variety, violent change, vocational education, vocational training, worsening

ROGET THESAURUS

improvement

Good

N good, benefit, advantage, improvement, greatest good, supreme good, interest, service, behoof, behalf, weal, main chance, summum bonum, common weal, consummation devoutly to be wished, gain, boot, profit, harvest, boon, good turn, blessing, world of good, piece of good luck, piece of good fortune, nuts, prize, windfall, godsend, waif, treasure-trove, good fortune, happiness, goodness, utility, remedy, pleasure giving, commendable, useful, good, beneficial, well, aright, satisfactorily, favorably, not amis, all for the best, to one's advantage, in one's favor, in one's interest, so far so good, magnum bonum.

Improvement

N improvement, amelioration, melioration, betterment, mend, amendment, emendation, mending, advancement, advance, ascent, promotion, preferment, elevation, increase, cultivation, civilization, culture, march of intellect, menticulture, race-culture, eugenics, reform, reformation, revision, radical reform, second thoughts, correction, limoe labor, refinement, elaboration, purification, oxidation, repair, recovery, revise, new edition, reformer, radical, improving, progressive, improved, better, better off, better for, all the better for, better advised, reformatory, emendatory, reparatory, remedial, corrigible, improvable, accultural, on consideration, on reconsideration, on second thoughts, on better advice, ad melius inquirendum, urbent latericiam invenit marmoream reliquit.

Progression

N progress, progression, progressiveness, advancing, advance, advancement, ongoing, flood, tide, headway, march, rise, improvement, advancing, progressive, profluent, advanced, forward, onward, forth, on, ahead, under way, en route for, on one's way, on the way, on the road, on the high road, on the road to, in progress, in mid progress, in transitu, vestigia nulla retrorsum, westward the course of empire takes its way.