improvement Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a change for the better; progress in development
    advance; betterment.
  2. noun the act of improving something
    • their improvements increased the value of the property
  3. noun a condition superior to an earlier condition
    melioration.
    • the new school represents a great improvement

WordNet

Im*prove"ment noun
Definitions
  1. The act of improving; advancement or growth; promotion in desirable qualities; progress toward what is better; melioration; as, the improvement of the mind, of land, roads, etc.
    I look upon your city as the best place of improvement. South.
    Exercise is the chief source of improvement in all our faculties. Blair.
  2. The act of making profitable use or applicaton of anything, or the state of being profitably employed; a turning to good account; practical application, as of a doctrine, principle, or theory, stated in a discourse. "A good improvement of his reason." S. Clarke.
    I shall make some improvement of this doctrine. Tillotson.
  3. The state of being improved; betterment; advance; also, that which is improved; as, the new edition is an improvement on the old.
    The parts of Sinon, Camilla, and some few others, are improvements on the Greek poet. Addison.
  4. Increase; growth; progress; advance.
    There is a design of publishing the history of architecture, with its several improvements and decays. Addison.
    Those vices which more particularly receive improvement by prosperity. South.
  5. pl. Valuable additions or betterments, as buildings, clearings, drains, fences, etc., on premises.
  6. (Patent Laws) A useful addition to, or modification of, a machine, manufacture, or composition. Kent.

Webster 1913