Nominal Forms
Infinitive: to improve
Participle: improved
Gerund: improving
Cognates
-
Indicative
Present
| I | improve |
| you | improve |
| he;she;it | improves |
| we | improve |
| you | improve |
| they | improve |
Perfect
| I | have improved |
| you | have improved |
| he;she;it | has improved |
| we | have improved |
| you | have improved |
| they | have improved |
Past
| I | improved |
| you | improved |
| he;she;it | improved |
| we | improved |
| you | improved |
| they | improved |
Pluperfect
| I | had improved |
| you | had improved |
| he;she;it | had improved |
| we | had improved |
| you | had improved |
| they | had improved |
Future
| I | will improve |
| you | will improve |
| he;she;it | will improve |
| we | will improve |
| you | will improve |
| they | will improve |
Future Perfect
| I | will have improved |
| you | will have improved |
| he;she;it | will have improved |
| we | will have improved |
| you | will have improved |
| they | will have improved |
Subjunctive
Present
| I | improve |
| you | improve |
| he;she;it | improve |
| we | improve |
| you | improve |
| they | improve |
Perfect
| I | have improved |
| you | have improved |
| he;she;it | have improved |
| we | have improved |
| you | have improved |
| they | have improved |
Imperfect
| I | improved |
| you | improved |
| he;she;it | improved |
| we | improved |
| you | improved |
| they | improved |
Pluperfect
| I | had improved |
| you | had improved |
| he;she;it | had improved |
| we | had improved |
| you | had improved |
| they | had improved |
Conditional
Present
| I | would improve |
| you | would improve |
| he;she;it | would improve |
| we | would improve |
| you | would improve |
| they | would improve |
Perfect
| I | would have improved |
| you | would have improved |
| he;she;it | would have improved |
| we | would have improved |
| you | would have improved |
| they | would have improved |
Imperative
| you | improve |
| we | Let's improve |
| you | improve |
Verbs conjugated like 'improve'
abacinate,
abalienate,
abase,
abate,
abbreviate,
abdicate,
abduce,
aberrate,
aberuncate,
abirritate,
abjudge,
abjudicate,
abjugate,
abjure,
ablactate,
ablaqueate,
able,
ablegate,
abligate,
abnegate, etc. (List truncated at 20 verbs)
Verbs similar to 'improve'
emprove,
approve,
disprove,
impave,
implode,
implore,
impone,
impose,
improper,
improvise,
Synonyms & Antonyms
Synonyms
- to make better
- ameliorate, amend, batten, better, enhance, meliorate
- to get better
- get better, look up
- better
- correct, emend, rectify, right, amend, ameliorate, help, refine
- gain
- recuperate, convalesce, mend, recover, ameliorate
- illuminate
- enrich, enlighten, uplift
Antonyms
- to make something worse
- aggravate
- to become worse
- ameliorate, better, worsen
- to make better
- aggravate, deteriorate, pejorate, worsen
- to make or render worse
- ameliorate, repair, restore, aggravate
- gain
- lose, expend, spend, exhaust
Additional Information
Phrasal Verbs
Etymology
1. 1473, "to use to one's profit," from Anglo-Fr. emprouwer "to turn to profit" (1292), from O.Fr. en-, causative prefix, + prou "profit," from L. prode "advantageous" (see proud). Meaning "to raise to a better quality or condition" first recorded 1617. Phrase improve the occasion retains the etymological sense. Meaning "to turn land to profit" (by clearing it, erecting buildings, etc.) was in Anglo-Fr. (13c.) and was retained in the American colonies.
2. From Anglo-Norman emprouwer, from Old French en- + prou (“profit”), from Vulgar Latin prode (“advantageous, profitable”).
Sample Sentences
-
[...] a discovery, ‘What a relish mulled claret will have down here ! ’ which appeared to strike us all most forcibly; as though there were something spicy and high-flavoured in cabins, which essentially improved that composition, and rendered it quite incapable of perfection anywhere else.
(American Notes for General Circulation)
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[...] the House of Correction for the State, in which silence is strictly maintained, but where the prisoners have the comfort and mental relief of seeing each other, and of working together. This is the improved system of Prison Discipline which we have imported into England, and which has been in successful operation among us for some years past.
(American Notes for General Circulation)
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[...] signed occasionally with rather fine names, but this is an American fashion. One of the provinces of the state legislature of Massachusetts is to alter ugly names into pretty ones, as the children improve upon the tastes of their parents. These changes costing little or nothing, scores of Mary Annes are solemnly converted into Bevelinas every session.
(American Notes for General Circulation)
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We tarried here, four days. The town is beautifully situated in a basin of green hills; the soil is rich, well-wooded, and carefully improved. It is the seat of the local legislature of Connecticut, which sage body enacted, in bygone times, the renowned code of ‘Blue Laws, ’ in virtue whereof, among other enlightened provisions, any [...]
(American Notes for General Circulation)
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On the present occasion, Mrs. Bird rose quickly, with very red cheeks, which quite improved her general appearance, and walked up to her husband, with quite a resolute air, and said, in a determined tone,
(Uncle Tom’s Cabin)
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[...] an admirable fire department (as indeed it should be, having constant practice ), and charities of every sort and kind. In the suburbs there is a spacious cemetery: unfinished yet, but every day improving. The saddest tomb I saw there was ‘The Strangers ’ Grave. Dedicated to the different hotels in this city. ’
(American Notes for General Circulation)
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[...] odds and ends; and his vinegar-bottle served for the pendulum. Seeing me interested in this contrivance, he looked up at it with a great deal of pride, and said that he had been thinking of improving it, and that he hoped the hammer and a little piece of broken glass beside it ‘would play music before long. ’ He had extracted some colours from the yarn with which he worked, and painted a few [...]
(American Notes for General Circulation)
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[...] boat, the proprietors took it into their beads to draft all the Pioneers into it likewise, so that we were five-and-forty at least, and the accession of passengers was not at all of that kind which improved the prospect of sleeping at night. Our people grumbled at this, as people do in such cases; but suffered the boat to be towed off with the whole freight aboard nevertheless; and away we went down [...]
(American Notes for General Circulation)
-
When the horses were swollen out to about twice their natural dimensions (there seems to be an idea here, that this kind of inflation improves their going ), we went forward again, through mud and mire, and damp, and festering heat, and brake and bush, attended always by the music of the frogs and pigs, until nearly noon, when we halted at [...]
(American Notes for General Circulation)
-
She lay there all night, and started as soon as it was day. The morning was ushered in by a violent thunderstorm, and was very wet, but gradually improved and brightened up. Going on deck after breakfast, I was amazed to see floating down with the stream, a most gigantic raft, with some thirty or forty wooden houses upon it, and at least as many [...]
(American Notes for General Circulation)