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Word Study
reformation
CIDE DICTIONARY
reformation, n. [F. réformation, L. reformatio.].
- The act of reforming, or the state of being reformed; change from worse to better; correction or amendment of life, manners, or of anything vicious or corrupt; as, the reformation of manners; reformation of the age; reformation of abuses. [1913 Webster]"Satire lashes vice into reformation." [1913 Webster]
- Specifically
(Eccl. Hist.) , the important religious movement commenced by Luther early in the sixteenth century, which resulted in the formation of the various Protestant churches. [1913 Webster]
Syn. -- Reform; amendment; correction; rectification.
OXFORD DICTIONARY
reformation, n. the act of reforming or process of being reformed, esp. a radical change for the better in political or religious or social affairs.
Idiom
the Reformation hist. a 16th-c. movement for the reform of abuses in the Roman Church ending in the establishment of the Reformed and Protestant Churches.
Derivative
Reformational adj.
Etymology
ME f. OF reformation or L reformatio (as REFORM)
THESAURUS
reformation
Fabianism, abject apology, about-face, accommodation, adaptation, adjustment, adoption, alteration, amelioration, amendment, apology, apostasy, betterment, break, change, change of allegiance, change of heart, change of mind, changeableness, circumcision, constructive change, continuity, conversion, deathbed repentance, defection, degeneration, degenerative change, deterioration, deviation, difference, discontinuity, divergence, diversification, diversion, diversity, extremism, fitting, flip-flop, gradual change, gradualism, heartfelt apology, improvement, instauration, mea culpa, melioration, meliorism, mitigation, modification, modulation, new birth, new life, overthrow, penance, penitence, progressivism, qualification, radical change, radical reform, radicalism, re-creation, reactivation, realignment, rebirth, reclamation, reconstitution, reconversion, recrudescence, redeemedness, redemption, redesign, redintegration, reenactment, reestablishment, reform, reformism, regeneration, rehabilitation, reinstatement, reinstation, reinstitution, reinvestiture, reinvestment, remaking, renascence, renewal, repentance, replacement, reshaping, restitution, restoration, restructuring, reversal, reversion, revisionism, revival, revivification, revolution, saeta, salvation, second birth, shift, spiritual purification, sudden change, switch, total change, transformation, transition, turn, turnabout, upheaval, utopianism, variation, variety, violent change, wearing a hairshirt, worseningROGET THESAURUS
reformation
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.Also see definition of "reformation" in Bible Study Dictionaries
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