(v. t.) To disapprove; to find fault with; to reprove; to censure; as, to improve negligence.
(v. t.) To make better; to increase the value or good qualities of; to ameliorate by care or cultivation; as, to improve land.
(v. t.) To use or employ to good purpose; to make productive; to turn to profitable account; to utilize; as, to improve one's time; to improve his means.
(v. t.) To advance or increase by use; to augment or add to; -- said with reference to what is bad.
(v. i.) To grow better; to advance or make progress in what is desirable; to make or show improvement; as, to improve in health.
(v. i.) To advance or progress in bad qualities; to grow worse.
(v. i.) To increase; to be enhanced; to rise in value; as, the price of cotton improves.
Example Sentences:
(1) These data indicate a steady improvement in laboratory performance over the last 10 years.
(2) Use of the improved operative technique contributed to reduction in number of complications.
(3) With UVB treatment clinical improvement was achieved, and a less pronounced decrease in epidermal LC was noticed.
(4) This clinical improvement was also associated with a decrease of erythrocyte sedimentation rate (p less than 0.001), decrease of C-reactive protein (p less than 0.0001) and with improvement of anaemia (p less than 0.05).
(5) In order to control noise- and vibration-caused diseases it was necessary not only to improve machines' quality and service conditions but also to pay special attention to the choice of operators and to the quality of monitoring their adaptation process.
(6) Symptomatic improvement was obtained in 14 of the 15 hands, and sensory-evoked response improved in 13 hands.
(7) McDonald said cutting better deals with suppliers and improving efficiency as well as raising some prices had only partly offset the impact of sterling’s fall against the dollar.
(8) Systemic corticosteroids (i.e., prednisone, prednisolone or methylprednisolone) have improved the survival rate of patients with moderate and severe ulcerative colitis.
(9) The active agents modestly improved treadmill exercise duration time until 1 mm ST segment depression (3%), and only propranolol and diltiazem had significant effects.
(10) A segment of vas deferens was transplanted to the contralateral deferens with the intention of improving treatment for certain cases of infertility caused by obstruction.
(11) Blood pressure control was marginally improved during the study and it is thought possible that better patient compliance might explain this.
(12) Since interferon alfa-2b (Intron A) is useful as a single agent, it is important to determine if interferon can be combined with standard chemotherapy to improve both response and survival in patients with cancer.
(13) Patients had improved sitting balance and endurance after surgery.
(14) However, further improvement of culture systems is needed for active replication of HBV in vitro.
(15) Symptoms, particularly colicky abdominal pain, improved during the period of chelation therapy.
(16) Her muscle weakness and hyperCKemia markedly improved by corticosteroid therapy, suggesting that the diagnosis was compatible with polymyositis (PM).
(17) An intact post-injury marriage was associated with improvement in education.
(18) A review is presented concerning the development of new neuroimaging techniques in the last decade which have improved the diagnostic exploration of patients with spinal cord injuries, including studies of possible sequelae.
(19) Akinetic symptoms were improved in 7 of 10 patients.
(20) What we’re doing is designed to improve people’s lives.” "I don't see race, colour or creed, and neither do my children," he added.
Reform
Definition:
(v. t.) To put into a new and improved form or condition; to restore to a former good state, or bring from bad to good; to change from worse to better; to amend; to correct; as, to reform a profligate man; to reform corrupt manners or morals.
(v. i.) To return to a good state; to amend or correct one's own character or habits; as, a man of settled habits of vice will seldom reform.
(n.) Amendment of what is defective, vicious, corrupt, or depraved; reformation; as, reform of elections; reform of government.
Example Sentences:
(1) Now, as the Senate takes up a weakened House bill along with the House's strengthened backdoor-proof amendment, it's time to put focus back on sweeping reform.
(2) "The proposed 'reform' is designed to legitimise this blatantly unfair, police state practice, while leaving the rest of the criminal procedure law as misleading decoration," said Professor Jerome Cohen, an expert on China at New York University's School of Law.
(3) What reforms there were could also be reversed, she warned.
(4) Photograph: Guardian The research also compiled data covered by a wider definition of tax haven, including onshore jurisdictions such as the US state of Delaware – accused by the Cayman islands of playing "faster and looser" even than offshore jurisdictions – and the Republic of Ireland, which has come under sustained pressure from other EU states to reform its own low-tax, light-tough, regulatory environment.
(5) A key way of regaining public trust will be reforming the system of remuneration as agreed by the G20.
(6) It has announced a four-stage programme of reforms that will tackle most of these stubborn and longstanding problems, including Cinderella issues such as how energy companies treat their small business customers.
(7) This week's unconfirmed claims that Kim's uncle Jang Song Thaek had been ousted from power have refocused attention on the country's domestic affairs; some analysts say Jang was associated with reform .
(8) The cyclical nature of pyromania has parallels in cycles of reform in standards of civil commitment (Livermore, Malmquist & Meehl, 1958; Dershowitz, 1974), in the use of physical therapies and medications (Tourney, 1967; Mora, 1974), in treatment of the chronically mentally ill (Deutsch, 1949; Morrissey & Goldman, 1984), and in institutional practices (Treffert, 1967; Morrissey, Goldman & Klerman (1980).
(9) Speaking to pro-market thinktank Reform, Milburn called for “more competition” and said the shadow health team were making a “fundamental political misjudgment” by attempting to roll back policies he had overseen.
(10) To confront this evil – and defeat it, standing together for our values, for our security, for our prosperity.” Merkel gave a strong endorsement of Cameron’s reform strategy, saying that Britain’s demands were “not just understandable, but worthy of support”.
(11) According to the Howard League for Penal Reform, which is backing the legal challenge, every year 75,0000 17-year-olds are held in custody.
(12) The heretofore "permanently and totally disabled versus able-bodied" principle in welfare reforms is being abbandoned.
(13) It is the second fate that is overtaking the government's higher education reforms.
(14) But even before the reforms, half of the women coming to refuges were being turned away, so beds were already scarce.
(15) The arrest of the Washington Post’s Tehran correspondent Jason Rezaian and his journalist wife, Yeganeh Salehi, as well as a photographer and her partner, is a brutal reminder of the distance between President Hassan Rouhani’s reforming promises and his willingness to act.
(16) While there has been almost no political reform during their terms of office, there have been several ambitious steps forward in terms of environmental policy: anti-desertification campaigns; tree planting; an environmental transparency law; adoption of carbon targets; eco-services compensation; eco accounting; caps on water; lower economic growth targets; the 12th Five-Year Plan; debate and increased monitoring of PM2.5 [fine particulate matter] and huge investments in eco-cities, "clean car" manufacturing, public transport, energy-saving devices and renewable technology.
(17) The authors are also upfront about what has not gone so well: "We were too slow to mobilise … we did not identify clear leadership or adequate resources for the actions … it is vital to accelerate the programme of civil service reform."
(18) Gerhard Schröder , Merkel’s immediate predecessor, had pushed through parliament a radical reform agenda to get the country’s spluttering economy back on track.
(19) This study suggests that laparoscopy has a role in adhesiolysis of mild and moderate adhesions and SLL provides further opportunity to relyse reformed adhesions in some cases.
(20) The Treasury said: "Britain has been at the forefront of global reforms to make banking more responsible, including big reductions in upfront cash bonuses and linking rewards to long-term success.