From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishamelioratea‧me‧li‧o‧rate /əˈmiːliəreɪt/ verb [transitive] formalIMPROVE to make a bad situation better or less harmful SYN improve It is not clear what can be done to ameliorate the situation. —amelioration /əˌmiːliəˈreɪʃən/ noun [uncountable]→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
ameliorate• Older women in the developed countries suffered unnecessarily from diseases that could have been ameliorated, cured, or even prevented.• Government has assumed the responsibility for ameliorating income inequality in our society.• Even a decision to paint one of them a garish blue has failed to ameliorate the effect.• In a warm room the nose discharges and fills up which ameliorates the headache; a thick, fluent, yellow discharge.• At the same time we had to cut our costs and reduce the numbers to at least ameliorate the losses.• Such policies either ameliorate the worst conditions that might provoke violence or provide certain classes with advantages over classes below them.• Confidence was increasing that men, through foresight and effective action, could ameliorate their existence and even prolong their lives.• Correction of the acidemia will often ameliorate this problem.• Measures to ameliorate working conditions have had little effect.Origin ameliorate (1700-1800) meliorate “to ameliorate” ((16-20 centuries)), from Late Latin, past participle of meliorare, from Latin melior “better” 