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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Reformation \Ref'or*ma"tion\ (r?f'?r*m?"sh?n), noun [F. r['e]formation, L. reformatio.]
1. The act of reforming, or the state of being reformed; change from worse to better; correction or amendment of life, manners, or of anything vicious or corrupt; as, the reformation of manners; reformation of the age; reformation of abuses.
Satire lashes vice into reformation. --Dryden.
2. Specifically (Eccl. Hist.), the important religious movement commenced by Luther early in the sixteenth century, which resulted in the formation of the various Protestant churches.
Syn: Reform; amendment; correction; rectification.
Usage: {Reformation}, {Reform}. Reformation is a more thorough and comprehensive change than reform. It is applied to subjects that are more important, and results in changes which are more lasting. A reformation involves, and is followed by, many particular reforms. ''The pagan converts mention this great reformation of those who had been the greatest sinners, with that sudden and surprising change which the Christian religion made in the lives of the most profligate.'' --Addison. ''A variety of schemes, founded in visionary and impracticable ideas of reform, were suddenly produced.'' --Pitt.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Re-formation \Re'-for*ma"tion\ (r?'f?r*m?"sh?n), noun The act of forming anew; a second forming in order; as, the reformation of a column of troops into a hollow square.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
re-formation
noun: forming again (especially with improvements or removal of defects); renewing and reconstituting [syn: {regeneration}]
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
reformation
noun
1: improvement (or an intended improvement) in the existing form or condition of institutions or practices etc.; intended to make a striking change for the better in social or political or religious affairs
2: a religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches [syn: {Protestant Reformation}]
3: rescuing from error and returning to a rightful course; "the reclamation of delinquent children" [syn: {reclamation}]
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
116 Moby Thesaurus words for "reformation": Fabianism, abject apology, about-face, accommodation, adaptation, adjustment, adoption, alteration, amelioration, amendment, apology, apostasy, betterment, break, change, change of allegiance, change of heart, change of mind, changeableness, circumcision, constructive change, continuity, conversion, deathbed repentance, defection, degeneration, degenerative change, deterioration, deviation, difference, discontinuity, divergence, diversification, diversion, diversity, extremism, fitting, flip-flop, gradual change, gradualism, heartfelt apology, improvement, instauration, mea culpa, melioration, meliorism, mitigation, modification, modulation, new birth, new life, overthrow, penance, penitence, progressivism, qualification, radical change, radical reform, radicalism, re-creation, reactivation, realignment, rebirth, reclamation, reconstitution, reconversion, recrudescence, redeemedness, redemption, redesign, redintegration, reenactment, reestablishment, reform, reformism, regeneration, rehabilitation, reinstatement, reinstation, reinstitution, reinvestiture, reinvestment, remaking, renascence, renewal, repentance, replacement, reshaping, restitution, restoration, restructuring, reversal, reversion, revisionism, revival, revivification, revolution, saeta, salvation, second birth, shift, spiritual purification, sudden change, switch, total change, transformation, transition, turn, turnabout, upheaval, utopianism, variation, variety, violent change, wearing a hairshirt, worsening
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