Improvement

5 definitions found

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

  Improvement \Im*prove"ment\, n.
     1. 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.
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              I look upon your city as the best place of
              improvement.                          --South.
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              Exercise is the chief source of improvement in all
              our faculties.                        --Blair.
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     2. 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. "A
        good improvement of his reason." --S. Clarke.
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              I shall make some improvement of this doctrine.
                                                    --Tillotson.
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     3. The state of being improved; betterment; advance; also,
        that which is improved; as, the new edition is an
        improvement on the old.
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              The parts of Sinon, Camilla, and some few others,
              are improvements on the Greek poet.   --Addison.
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     4. Increase; growth; progress; advance.
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              There is a design of publishing the history of
              architecture, with its several improvements and
              decays.                               --Addison.
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              Those vices which more particularly receive
              improvement by prosperity.            --South.
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     5. pl. Valuable additions or betterments, as buildings,
        clearings, drains, fences, etc., on land or premises; as,
        to convey the land together with all improvements.
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     6. (Patent Laws) A useful addition to, or modification of, a
        machine, manufacture, or composition. --Kent.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  improvement
       n 1: the act of improving something; "their improvements
            increased the value of the property"
       2: a change for the better; progress in development [syn: {betterment},
           {advance}]
       3: a condition superior to an earlier condition; "the new
          school represents a great improvement" [syn: {melioration}]
          [ant: {decline}]

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

  132 Moby Thesaurus words for "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
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  IMPROVEMENT, rights. An addition of some useful thing to a machine, 
  manufacture or composition of matter. 
       2. The patent law of July 4, 1836, authorizes the granting of a patent 
  for any new and useful improvement on any art, machine manufacture or 
  composition of matter. Sect. 6. It is often very difficult to say what is a 
  new and useful improvement, the cases often approach very near to each 
  other. In the present improved state of machinery, it is almost 
  impracticable not to employ the same elements of motion, and in some 
  particulars, the same manner of operation, to produce any new effect. 1 
  Gallis. 478; 2 Gallis. 51. See 4 B. & Ald. 540; 2 Kent, Com. 370. 
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  IMPROVEMENT, estates. This term is of doubtful meaning It would seem to 
  apply principally to buildings, though generally it extends to amelioration 
  of every description of property, whether real or personal; it is generally 
  explained by other words. 
       2. Where, by the terms of a lease, the covenant was to leave at the end 
  of the term a water-mill with all the fixtures, fastenings, and 
  improvements, during the demise fixed, fastened, or set up on or upon the 
  premises, in good plight and condition, it was held to include a pair of new 
  millstones set up by the lessee during the term, although the custom of the 
  country in general authorized the tenant to remove them. 9 Bing. 24; 3 Sim. 
  450; 2 Ves. & Bea. 349. Vide 3 Yeates, 71; Addis. R. 335; 4 Binn. R. 418; 5 
  Binn. R. 77; 5 S. & R. 266; 1 Binn. R. 495; 1 John. Ch. R. 450; 15 Pick. R. 
  471. Vide Profits. 2 Man. & Gra. 729, 757; S. C. 40 Eng. C. L. R. 598, 612. 
       3. Tenants in common are not bound to pay for permanent improvements, 
  made on the common property, by one of the tenants in common without their 
  consent. 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1881.