Ameliorate

verb

To make something that is unpleasant more acceptable or bearable
To become better, healthier, or more acceptable

Usage

As lexicographers, we know firsthand how easily social interactions can get awkward. One of you says one little thing that doesn't quite make sense to the other, and suddenly you're both clearing your throats and struggling to think of something to say next. Drawn out, difficult to navigate, and absolutely excruciating, these moments are the social equivalent of traffic jams. Luckily, one easy thing can often ameliorate the situation: a smile. Like a calm police officer, a smile sets everyone at ease, conveying sincerity and friendliness, getting everyone on the same page again, and ultimately loosening up that traffic j- uh, awkward situation. A smile might not totally resolve those social "oh crap" moments, but it can at least ameliorate them, making them a little easier to tolerate.

When you're stuck in any kind of bad situation, you probably welcome anything that ameliorates your suffering. Ameliorate is a verb that refers to the act of making something which is unpleasant at least a little better. Using this word indicates that you're providing care or support with the intention of easing a burden, either for yourself or others. In the best cases, ameliorating might involve solving problems completely, and it might even make things downright pleasant. For example, you could just as easily ameliorate your extreme exhaustion by taking a quick cat nap as by getting a solid eight hours on a big comfy bed. Keep in mind that while to ameliorate always means to make something better, it also always implies that conditions were bad to start with. So even though you might be able to make your already great vocabulary even better by learning a new word, saying you ameliorated it wouldn’t really make sense.

That usage is transitive, which means that it's done by someone or something (the subject, what/whoever ameliorates) to an object (the thing that gets ameliorated). This is the most common way ameliorate is used, but the verb can also be intransitive. In intransitive usages, the subject itself ameliorates, with no object involved. For instance, as a cold gets better, you could say it's ameliorating. Or even better: the more familiar you become with a language, the more any issues you have with it ameliorate!

Example: I decided to watch TV while studying to ameliorate the tedium.

Example: Unfortunately, I bombed the test, and now I need extra credit to ameliorate my grade.

Example: I guess I'm proof that bad study habits ameliorate with experience.

Origin

Etymologists have a couple of theories about the origins of ameliorate. Both, however, start with the very positive Proto-Indo-European root mel-, meaning "great," "strong," or "abundant." This root would form the basis of the Latin adjective melior ("better," "improved," or "stronger") and verb meliorare ("to make better"). From here, though, the theories diverge. One theory involves the now obsolete English word meliorate. Meliorate, which meant the same thing as ameliorate, probably stems from the past participle of meliorare, melioratus (think "made better"). According to this theory, ameliorate arose directly from meliorate and has been in use since the mid-1600s.

The other theory, though, suggests that ameliorate was actually formed from amelioration, an English noun that means "improvement." Amelioration is an antecedent of a French word of the same meaning, amélioration. That word in turn comes from the Old French ameillorer, a verb meaning "to make better" that stems from our old Latin friend melior. According to this theory, ameliorate wouldn't arise in English until the 1720s.

Derivative Words

Ameliorates: This simple present form of ameliorate is used when a singular third-person subject either makes something that is unpleasant more bearable or becomes better itself.

Example: I think running on her little wheel is how my hamster ameliorates her boredom.

Ameliorated: This preterit form of ameliorate is used when a subject either made something more bearable or improved in the past.

Example: That hamster wheel used to make a constant, very annoying squeaking noise, which I ameliorated with a little WD-40.

Ameliorating: The progressive form of ameliorate is used when a subject is currently improving something unpleasant or becoming better. It is also commonly used as an adjective to describe an action or object as improving something.

Example: Intrigued by my hamster's example, I tried ameliorating my own restlessness by pacing around my living room for a half hour or so.

Example: The pacing was surprisingly ameliorating after the stresses of a long day.

Amelioration: This noun refers to the act of improvement or making something easier to bear. Interestingly, many scholars feel that ameliorate is a derivative of amelioration, rather than the other way around. Note that the French word amèlioration means “improvement”.

Example: The stimulus package provided immediate amelioration to the state's economy.

Ameliorative: This adjective characterizes someone or something as making something better or as having a therapeutic effect.

Example: We fought the heat with an ameliorative dip in the pool.

Ameliorator: This noun refers to a person or thing that makes something that is unpleasant better or easier to handle.

Example: When driving long distances, music is an essential ameliorator of boredom.

Similar Words

If you ever run across the word meliorate, don't assume it's a typo, especially if the text you're reading is from the 16^th or 17^th century. Meliorate is a verb with exactly the same meaning as ameliorate. You can use them interchangeably, if you're so inclined. However, using meliorate might get you some strange looks, since the word is old-fashioned and, at this point, pretty much obsolete, its usage outstripped by the much more popular ameliorate.

In Literature

From James George Frazer's The Golden Bough: A Study of Magic and Religion:

For extending its sway, partly by force of arms, partly by the voluntary submission of weaker tribes, the community soon acquires wealth and slaves, both of which, by relieving some classes from the perpetual struggle for a bare subsistence, afford them an opportunity of devoting themselves to that disinterested pursuit of knowledge which is the noblest and most powerful instrument to ameliorate the lot of man.

In this passage, Frazer uses ameliorate to explain that learning and scholarship improve and make more tolerable the condition of being human, which some view as difficult and potentially unrewarding.

Mnemonic

Ameliorate will alleviate to help you tolerate