Redressed

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Made amends or set right a mistake or unfair situation ; clothed or dressed again in different clothing
2. Remedied a fault or an injury to restore fairness or balance ; given new clothes or changed garments
3. Took action to fix or compensate for an error or harm ; outfitted with fresh attire or replaced clothing

Etymology: Redressed is the past tense of "redress," and the verb is a fine example of a word that has travelled from straightening things to setting wrongs right. Its ancestor is Old French "redrecier," meaning to stand something up again, built from "re-" (again) and "drecier" (to set upright). That second element is itself a reshaped form of Latin "directus," meaning straight, so the verb's roots trace back to the idea of putting something back in a straight line. The sense of correcting a fault came along in Middle French, where "redresser" could mean to repair, rectify or restore. English took the word in Middle English, and the moral sense of setting an injustice right followed the physical sense of standing something upright again. The same sense underlies the First Amendment's reference to "a redress of grievances," in which the right to petition the government is the right to have wrongs set straight.

Synonyms: corrected, amended, rectified

Antonyms: aggravated, worsened