Amendments

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ʌˈmɛn(d).mənts/

Definitions

1. Official changes or additions made to a legal or formal document to improve or correct it
2. Adjustments or modifications introduced to existing laws or texts in an authoritative manner
3. Revisions or updates applied to formal documents or statutes for clarification or rectification

Etymology: "Amendments" is the plural of "amendment," and the singular has a plain, traceable lineage. It comes from French "amendement," which itself was built from Late Latin "amendamentum," a formation on the verb "amend," meaning to correct or improve. The English verb "amend" came in through Old French "amender" from Latin "emendare," meaning to free from fault, and it still carries that sense of making something better rather than merely changing it. The noun pairs that core verb with the suffix "-ment," which turns an action into the result or product of that action, as in "judgment" or "settlement." So an amendment is literally the product of amending: the correction that has been made. That corrective flavour explains why the word feels so natural in legal contexts, where a text is improved by formally fixing a flaw.

Synonyms: revisions, modifications, alterations, adjustments, corrections