Literary notes about ameliorate (AI summary)
In literature, "ameliorate" is commonly used to convey the act of improving or softening a negative condition, whether on an individual, social, or institutional level. Authors employ the term to describe both tangible efforts to uplift the quality of life—such as charitable initiatives intended to ameliorate the lot of the poor [1, 2, 3]—and more abstract attempts to mitigate personal or moral shortcomings [4, 5, 6]. The word also appears in discussions of legal reforms and societal progress, highlighting struggles to amend systems that disadvantage certain groups [7, 8, 9]. In some contexts, however, its use even carries an ironic or skeptical tone when questioning the feasibility of truly redressing ingrained evils [10, 11, 12]. Overall, the literary utilization of "ameliorate" articulates a desire for improvement while often acknowledging the persistent challenges inherent in transforming entrenched conditions [13, 14, 15].
- Philosophy should be an energy; it should have for effort and effect to ameliorate the condition of man.
— from Les Misérables by Victor Hugo - The Federal government has done much to ameliorate the condition of the American people, whereas the state governments have done little or nothing.
— from The Promise of American Life by Herbert David Croly - Mr. George Peabody, the American merchant, gives £150,000 to ameliorate the condition of London poor.
— from Dickens' London by M. F. (Milburg Francisco) Mansfield - She condemned herself to the most fastidious observances and the most sore privations, which did not much ameliorate her lot.
— from Memoirs of Madame la Marquise de Montespan — Complete by Madame de Montespan - He had determined to work and live for these people of Brunford, to ameliorate their woes, and to bring more sunshine into their lives.
— from The Day of Judgment by Joseph Hocking - "Where did Nina find her?" asked Sir George in an effort to ameliorate his wife's evident discomfiture.
— from The Tigress by Anne Warner - The judge is not forbidden to ameliorate the law which he administers.
— from Essays in Literature and History by James Anthony Froude - Some years ago several pious individuals undertook to ameliorate the condition of the prisons.
— from Democracy in America — Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville - Philanthropists, philosophers, and statesmen study and devise ways and means to ameliorate the condition of the people.
— from History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I - But if we did not know in what respect they were morbid or in what way they diverged from the normal, how should we be able to ameliorate them?
— from Galen: On the Natural Faculties by Galen - To ameliorate a religion is to lay violent hands on it.
— from William Shakespeare by Victor Hugo - [Pg 321] dealing with all kinds of evils, it must be remembered that these are to ameliorate conditions in the existing social order .
— from Socialism: A Summary and Interpretation of Socialist Principles by John Spargo - There are very many philanthropists who would gladly ameliorate the condition of men, and of the world, if they knew how.
— from The Government of God by John Taylor - They desire to ameliorate the material condition of life for all the members of society, even the most privileged.
— from Socialism As It IsA Survey of The World-Wide Revolutionary Movement by William English Walling - "It must be felt, then, to be the duty of every good Christian to endeavour to ameliorate the condition of that class of our fellow-creatures.
— from Speeches and Addresses of H. R. H. the Prince of Wales: 1863-1888 by King of Great Britain Edward VII
