ameliorate

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The Word of the Day for June 3 is:

ameliorate   \uh-MEE-lee-uh-rayt\   verb
     : to make better or more tolerable

Example sentence:
     Access to clean water would ameliorate living conditions within the 
village.

Did you know?
     "Ameliorate" traces back to "melior," the Latin adjective meaning 
"better," and is a synonym of the verbs "better" and "improve." When is it 
better to use "ameliorate"? If a situation is bad, "ameliorate" indicates that 
the conditions have been made more tolerable. Thus, one might refer to drugs 
that ameliorate the side effects of chemotherapy; a loss of wages ameliorated 
by unemployment benefits; or a harsh law ameliorated by special exceptions. 
"Improve" and "better" apply when what is being made better can be good or bad 
(as in "the weather improved" and "she bettered her lot in life"), and they 
should certainly be chosen over "ameliorate" when something good is getting 
better still ("he improved his successful program"; "she bettered her 
impressive scores").





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