Search Result for "melioration": 
Wordnet 3.0

NOUN (3)

1. the act of relieving ills and changing for the better;
[syn: amelioration, melioration, betterment]

2. a condition superior to an earlier condition;
- Example: "the new school represents a great improvement"
[syn: improvement, melioration]

3. the linguistic process in which over a period of time a word grows more positive in connotation or more elevated in meaning; 



The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Melioration \Mel`io*ra"tion\, n. [L. melioratio.]
   The act or operation of meliorating, or the state of being
   meliorated; improvement. --Bacon.
   [1913 Webster]


WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

melioration
    n 1: the act of relieving ills and changing for the better [syn:
         amelioration, melioration, betterment]
    2: a condition superior to an earlier condition; "the new school
       represents a great improvement" [syn: improvement,
       melioration] [ant: declination, decline]
    3: the linguistic process in which over a period of time a word
       grows more positive in connotation or more elevated in
       meaning