Definition of "melioration" [mel•io•ra•tion]

• The act or process of improving something or the state of being improved. (noun)
• An improvement. (noun)
• The linguistic process by which a word over a period of time grows more elevated in meaning or more positive in connotation. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Instances, rare instances, of such "melioration" and of such "schools of instruction," I doubt not there have been: but, I am confident, that the"
• "Always the opponent of sane social reforms which Socialists deride as "melioration" or as futile attempts to shore up an obsolete system, it has consistently disassociated itself from such men as Lord Shaftesbury, who did more to better the conditions of the working classes than anyone who has ever lived."
• "You might perhaps say "melioration," but "improvement" is the proper word. '"