Readjustments

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Changes implemented to better align with new conditions or requirements
2. Revisions executed to improve effectiveness or to fit updated contexts
3. The process of altering something again to better suit changed circumstances

Etymology: "Readjustments" is simply "readjustment" with the plural ending "-s," and the noun itself is a compound of three parts. The prefix "re-" means "again," from Latin "re-," and "adjust" comes through French "ajuster" from Latin "adjustare," a combination of "ad-" ("to") and "justare," meaning "to bring into line," which in turn derives from "justus," "just" or "right." The original sense was literally to make something exact or to bring it into proper alignment, as with a mechanism or a measurement. The suffix "-ment," borrowed from French and ultimately from Latin "-mentum," turns the verb into a noun for the act or result of doing it. Because "adjust" was already in English by the 1600s, "readjustment" is a later formation built on top of it, with "re-" attached to create a sense of repeating the action. The word's history is therefore a layered one: a Latin idea of making things straight, passed through French, with two English additions that turned it into a term for correcting something that had already been corrected once before.

Synonyms: modifications, alterations, adjustments, revisions, adaptations