improvement

English

Alternative forms

emprovement (obsolete)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman emprouwement. By surface analysis, improve +‎ -ment.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ɪmˈpɹuːvmənt/
Audio (GA) (file)
Hyphenation: im‧prove‧ment

Noun

improvement (countable and uncountable, plural improvements)

The act of improving; advancement or growth; a bettering
- November 9, 1662, Robert South, Of the Creation of Man in the Image of God
  I look upon your city as the best place of improvement.
- 1783, Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres:
  Exercise is the chief source of improvement in all our faculties.
- 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XIX, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
  Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.
- 2013 June 22, “Engineers of a different kind”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8841, page 70:
  Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. […] Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.
The act of making profitable use or application of anything, or the state of being profitably employed; practical application, for example of a doctrine, principle, or theory, stated in a discourse.
- 1705, Samuel Clarke, Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion:
  good improvement of his reason.
- 1681, John Tillotson, A sermon preached at the funeral of the Reverend Mr Thomas Gouge:
  I shall make some improvement of this doctrine.
The state of being improved; betterment; advance
Something which is improved
the new edition is an improvement on the old.
- 1712 January 23 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “SATURDAY, January 12, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 273; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, , volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
  The parts of Sinon, Camilla, and some few others, are improvements on the Greek poet.
  The spelling has been modernized.
Increase; growth; progress; advance.
- 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, 6th edition, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: J Bettenham, for Jonah Bowyer, , published 1727, →OCLC:
  Those vices which more particularly receive improvement by prosperity.
(in the plural) Valuable additions or betterments, for example buildings, clearings, drains, fences, etc., on premises.
(Patent Laws): A useful addition to, or modification of, a machine, manufacture, or composition.