Improve

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Improve \Im*prove"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Improved}; p. pr. &
     vb. n. {Improving}.] [Pref. in- in + prove, in approve. See
     {Approve}, {Prove.}]
     1. To make better; to increase the value or good qualities
        of; to ameliorate by care or cultivation; as, to improve
        land. --Donne.


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              I love not to improve the honor of the living by
              impairing that of the dead.           --Denham.
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     2. To use or employ to good purpose; to make productive; to
        turn to profitable account; to utilize; as, to improve
        one's time; to improve his means. --Shak.
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              We shall especially honor God by improving
              diligently the talents which God hath committed to
              us.                                   --Barrow.
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              A hint that I do not remember to have seen opened
              and improved.                         --Addison.
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              The court seldom fails to improve the opportunity.
                                                    --Blackstone.
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              How doth the little busy bee
              Improve each shining hour.            --I. Watts.
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              Those moments were diligently improved. --Gibbon.
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              True policy, as well as good faith, in my opinion,
              binds us to improve the occasion.     --Washington.
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     3. To advance or increase by use; to augment or add to; --
        said with reference to what is bad. [R.]
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              We all have, I fear, . . . not a little improved the
              wretched inheritance of our ancestors. --Bp.
                                                    Porteus.
  
     Syn: To better; meliorate; ameliorate; advance; heighten;
          mend; correct; rectify; amend; reform.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Improve \Im*prove"\, v. t. [Pref. im- not + prove: cf. L.
     improbare, F. improuver.]
     1. To disprove or make void; to refute. [Obs.]
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              Neither can any of them make so strong a reason
              which another can not improve.        --Tyndale.
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     2. To disapprove; to find fault with; to reprove; to censure;
        as, to improve negligence. [Obs.] --Chapman.
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              When he rehearsed his preachings and his doing unto
              the high apostles, they could improve nothing.
                                                    --Tyndale.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Improve \Im*prove"\, v. i.
     1. To grow better; to advance or make progress in what is
        desirable; to make or show improvement; as, to improve in
        health.
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              We take care to improve in our frugality and
              diligence.                            --Atterbury.
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     2. To advance or progress in bad qualities; to grow worse.
        "Domitian improved in cruelty." --Milner.
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     3. To increase; to be enhanced; to rise in value; as, the
        price of cotton improves.
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     {To improve on} or {To improve upon}, to make useful
        additions or amendments to, or changes in; to bring nearer
        to perfection; as, to improve on the mode of tillage.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  improve
       v 1: to make better; "The editor improved the manuscript with his
            changes" [syn: {better}, {amend}, {ameliorate}, {meliorate}]
            [ant: {worsen}]
       2: get better; "The weather improved toward evening" [syn: {better},
           {ameliorate}, {meliorate}] [ant: {worsen}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  235 Moby Thesaurus words for "improve":
     accommodate, acculturate, adapt, adjust, advance, alter,
     ameliorate, amend, apprentice, be changed, be converted into,
     be renewed, benefit, benefit from, best, better, boost, bottom out,
     brace up, break, break in, break up, breed, bring forward,
     bring up, cap, capitalize on, cash in on, change, checker, chop,
     chop and change, civilize, come about, come along, come around,
     come on, come round, complete, condition, convalesce, convert,
     correct, crown, culminate, cultivate, deform, degenerate, denature,
     deteriorate, develop, deviate, discipline, diverge, diversify,
     do to perfection, drill, edify, edit, educate, elevate, emend,
     enhance, enlighten, enrich, exceed, excel, exercise, exploit,
     fatten, favor, fetch up, fit, fix up, flop, form, forward, foster,
     further, gain, gain ground, gain strength, get ahead, get along,
     get better, go ahead, go forward, go one better, go straight,
     graduate, groom, grow better, haul around, help, house-train,
     housebreak, illume, illumine, improve on, improve the occasion,
     improve upon, increase, irradiate, jibe, lard, lick into shape,
     lift, look up, make an improvement, make capital of, make hay,
     make headway, make progress, make strides, mature, meliorate, mend,
     mitigate, modernize, modify, modulate, mutate, nurse, nurture,
     outweigh, overbalance, overbear, overcome, overhaul, overpass,
     overthrow, overtop, perfect, perk up, pick up, practice,
     predominate, prepare, preponderate, prevail, profit by, progress,
     promote, put in tune, put right, put to advantage, put to school,
     qualify, raise, rally, re-create, ready, realign, rear, rebuild,
     recondition, reconstruct, recover, recruit, rectify, recuperate,
     redeem, redesign, redress, refine, refine upon, refit, reform,
     refurbish, rehabilitate, rehearse, remake, remedy, remodel, renew,
     renovate, repair, reshape, restructure, revamp, revise, revive,
     ring the changes, ripen, rub up, send to school, set right,
     shape up, shift, shift the scene, show improvement,
     shuffle the cards, skyrocket, sleep it off, socialize,
     straighten out, strengthen, subvert, surpass, swerve, tack,
     take a turn, take advantage of, take in hand, take off, top,
     tower above, tower over, trade on, train, transcend, transfigure,
     transform, trump, turn, turn aside, turn into, turn the corner,
     turn the scale, turn the tables, turn the tide, turn to account,
     turn to profit, turn to use, turn upside down, undergo a change,
     update, upgrade, uplift, use to advantage, vary, veer, warp,
     work a change, worsen