From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Improvement \Im*prove"ment\, noun
1. The act of improving; advancement or growth; promotion in desirable qualities; progress toward what is better; melioration; as, the improvement of the mind, of land, roads, etc.
I look upon your city as the best place of improvement. --South.
Exercise is the chief source of improvement in all our faculties. --Blair.
2. The act of making profitable use or applicaton of anything, or the state of being profitably employed; a turning to good account; practical application, as of a doctrine, principle, or theory, stated in a discourse. ''A good improvement of his reason.'' --S. Clarke.
I shall make some improvement of this doctrine. --Tillotson.
3. The state of being improved; betterment; advance; also, that which is improved; as, the new edition is an improvement on the old.
The parts of Sinon, Camilla, and some few others, are improvements on the Greek poet. --Addison.
4. Increase; growth; progress; advance.
There is a design of publishing the history of architecture, with its several improvements and decays. --Addison.
Those vices which more particularly receive improvement by prosperity. --South.
5. pl. Valuable additions or betterments, as buildings, clearings, drains, fences, etc., on land or premises; as, to convey the land together with all improvements.
6. (Patent Laws) A useful addition to, or modification of, a machine, manufacture, or composition. --Kent.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
noun
1: the act of improving something; "their improvements increased the value of the property"
2: a change for the better; progress in development [syn: {betterment}, {advance}]
3: a condition superior to an earlier condition; "the new school represents a great improvement" [syn: {melioration}] [ant: {decline}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
132 Moby Thesaurus words for "improvement": about-face, accommodation, adaptation, adjustment, advance, alteration, amelioration, amendment, apostasy, apprenticeship, basic training, betterment, break, breaking, breeding, change, change of allegiance, change of heart, change of mind, changeableness, conditioning, constructive change, continuity, convalescence, conversion, cultivation, defection, degeneration, degenerative change, deterioration, development, deviation, difference, discipline, discontinuity, divergence, diversification, diversion, diversity, drill, drilling, enhancement, exercise, fetching-up, fitting, flip-flop, fostering, gain, gradual change, grooming, housebreaking, in-service training, increase, instauration, manual training, melioration, military training, mitigation, modification, modulation, new birth, nurture, nurturing, on-the-job training, overthrow, practice, preparation, progress, qualification, radical change, raising, re-creation, reactivation, readying, realignment, rearing, rebirth, reclamation, reconstitution, reconversion, recovery, recrudescence, recuperation, redemption, redesign, redintegration, reenactment, reestablishment, reform, reformation, regeneration, rehabilitation, rehearsal, reinstatement, reinstation, reinstitution, reinvestiture, reinvestment, remaking, renascence, renewal, repair, replacement, reshaping, restitution, restoration, restructuring, reversal, reversion, revival, revivification, revolution, rise, shift, sloyd, sudden change, switch, total change, training, transition, turn, turnabout, upbringing, upgrading, upheaval, upswing, variation, variety, violent change, vocational education, vocational training, worsening
Define.com is a registered nonprofit corporation dedicated solely to the global public interest and the advancement of humanity. It belongs to all of us who have a desire to promote electronic democracy, science, creativity, imagination, reason, critical thinking, peace, race and gender equality, civil rights, equal access to education, personal liberty, free speech, animal rights, compassionate and nonviolent parenting, social and economic justice, global monetary reform, Secular Humanism, cognitive liberty and a permanent cessation of The War on Drugs.
Let's see what we can do if we put our heads together.
0