Ameliorate
Here’s a good word to know: ameliorate. I first heard this in a philosophy class, and it has since stuck with me. I’ve broken out this bad boy a few times during PowerPoint presentations and it is a definite crowd pleaser. If you look it up on dictionary.com, it means to make or become better, more bearable, or more satisfactory. I think it works best when used in the “to make more satisfactory” sense. If want to say improve, just say improve. But improve is so generic. If you want to say something needs to be improved because people aren’t satisfied, then say it needs to be ameliorated. For example, you can ameliorate an argument if the premise is weak. You could also tell someone to ameliorate their pitch because it doesn’t make sense. This is especially useful if that person has to ask you what ameliorate means.
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Tags: Words to Know
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October 17th, 2007 at 4:40 pm
I don’t like your example sentence with PowerPoint. I think you would say something like “take this Excedrin to help ameliorate your headache”
October 18th, 2007 at 8:42 am
do you really want to make your headache more satisfactory? that doesn’t make sense. if you improved your headache, you would actually be in more pain. i think you might be trying to use ameliorate where you should actually use alleviate.