reformation Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun improvement (or an intended improvement) in the existing form or condition of institutions or practices etc.; intended to make a striking change for the better in social or political or religious affairs
noun a religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches
Protestant Reformation.
noun rescuing from error and returning to a rightful course
reclamation.
- the reclamation of delinquent children

F. réformation, L. reformatio.

The act of reforming, or the state of being reformed; change from worse to better; correction or amendment of life, manners, or of anything vicious or corrupt; as, the reformation of manners; reformation of the age; reformation of abuses.
Satire lashes vice into reformation. Dryden.
Specifically (Eccl. Hist.), the important religious movement commenced by Luther early in the sixteenth century, which resulted in the formation of the various Protestant churches. Syn. -- Reform; amendment; correction; rectification. -- Reformation, Reform. Reformation is a more thorough and comprehensive change than reform. It is applied to subjects that are more important, and results in changes which are more lasting. A reformation involves, and is followed by, many particular reforms. "The pagan converts mention this great reformation of those who had been the greatest sinners, with that sudden and surprising change which the Christian religion made in the lives of the most profligate." Addison. "A variety of schemes, founded in visionary and impracticable ideas of reform, were suddenly produced." Pitt.