Meliorates

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To cause a condition, situation, or feeling to become better or more favorable
2. To bring about an enhancement or positive change in a circumstance or state
3. To improve or raise the quality, condition, or value of something

Etymology: "Meliorates" is the third-person singular form of "meliorate," so it simply means "meliorate" applied to a single subject: he, she, or it improves something. The verb itself was first recorded in English in 1542, borrowed from the Late Latin "meliorātus," the past participle of "meliorō," which means "to make better." That Late Latin verb is built on "melior," the comparative of "bonus" ("good") in classical Latin, meaning "better." The "-ate" ending, which turns many Latin verbs into English ones, carries the sense of doing something to a thing. So the whole word is essentially "to make better" in two Latin pieces, one comparative adjective and one verb-forming suffix.

Synonyms: improves, enhances, better, ameliorates, upgrades

Antonyms: deteriorates, worsens, declines, degrades, diminishes