reform

Pluralreforms

Formsreforms, reforming, reformed

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   A change made to something faulty or harmful in order to correct or improve it.

   The government promised sweeping reform of the tax system.

   Critics argued that real reform would require dismantling the entire agency.

   Similaroverhaul, improvement, reorganization, change, amendment

   Note

   The noun is the latecomer: English took it from French réforme in the 1660s, well after the verb had arrived through Old French. It works both as a mass noun (major reform is needed) and as a countable one (a serious reform, or a single named program, as when Barack Obama in 2011 called "Race to the Top" a reform). Its natural home is institutions: elections, schools, a factory's efficiency.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To change something into a better form or condition, bringing it from a worse state to a good one.

   The committee set out to reform an electoral process that few still trusted.

   Lawmakers reformed the banking sector to prevent another collapse.

   Similarimprove, overhaul, revamp, reorganize, amend

   Note

   Here the change is done to something, and the object can be a person as easily as a system. Older usage leans moral: Jonathan Swift in 1709 hopes to reform a whole age, and in H. G. Wells's The History of Mr. Polly (1909) a man is "carried off and reformed," as if by force. Modern usage often targets institutions, such as a prosecutor's office. When people change themselves, the verb drops its object: see reforming oneself.

3. 3
   verbintransitive

   To improve one's own character or habits, returning to a good way of living.

   The gambler swore he would reform and never bet again.

   Many offenders reform once they have support and a stable home.

   Similarchange, improve

   Oppositerelapse, backslide

4. 4
   verbtransitive or intransitive

   To form something again, or to come together once more in a new arrangement.

   The crew will reform the steel beams into a sturdier frame.

   Storm clouds reform over the bay each afternoon.

   Similarreshape, regroup, reassemble

   Note

   Here the word means exactly what its parts say, with none of the moral weight of the "improve" meaning. A regiment reforms after an attack, a band reforms for a new album, railway units are reformed into longer formations, and processed meat is sold as reformed. Careful writers often hyphenate it as re-form, so the reader is never left guessing which verb is meant.

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