amendment
Pluralamendments
- 1A change someone suggests to a bill or motion before a group votes on it.
Like suggesting a change to the rules of a game before everyone agrees to play.
The senator offered an amendment to the spending bill.
Members voted on each amendment before passing the law.
Similarrevision, modification, alteration, change
Note
- 2A formal change or addition to the Constitution.
Like adding a new rule to a club's rulebook that everyone agrees to follow.
The First Amendment protects freedom of speech.
Congress passed an amendment to ban slavery.
Note
- 3A change that makes something better, or that fixes a fault in how someone lives.
Like fixing a bad habit to become a better person.
Years of hard work and amendment turned his life around.
The prisoner showed real amendment after his release.
Similarimprovement, reformation
Oppositedeterioration, decline
Note
- 4Something added to make a thing fuller or better.
Like adding sand to thick mud to make it easier to dig.
Gardeners mix an amendment like compost into poor soil.
An amendment of extra cream made the sauce richer.
Similaradditive, supplement, addition
Note
- 5Fixing a mistake in an official legal paper.
Like erasing and rewriting a wrong word on an important form.
The court allowed an amendment to fix the wrong date on the writ.
A small amendment corrected the spelling of the defendant's name.
Similarcorrection, rectification
Note
Practice
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Origin
From French amendement, which came from Late Latin amendamentum. It combines amend and -ment.