improve

English

Alternative forms

• emprove (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɪmˈpɹuːv/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːv

Verb

improve (third-person singular simple present improves, present participle improving, simple past and past participle improved)

1. (transitive) to make (something) better; to increase the value or productivity (of something)

   Painting the woodwork will improve this house.

   Buying more servers would improve performance.

2. (intransitive) to become better

   I have improved since taking the tablets.

   The error messages have improved.

Synonyms

• (to make something better): ameliorate, better, batten, enhance
• See also Wikisaurus:improve

Antonyms

• (to make something worse): worsen
• (to become worse): worsen

Derived terms

• improvement

Translations

to make something better

• Afrikaans: verbeter (af)
• Albanian: përmirësoj (sq)
• American Sign Language: B@TipForearm-PalmBack B@Forearm-PalmBack B@BaseForearm-PalmBack
• Arabic: حسن (ar) (Hassana)
• Asturian: ameyorar (ast), meyorar (ast)
• Basque: hobetu (eu)
• Bulgarian: подобрявам (bg) (podobrjavam), усъвършенствам (bg) (usǎvǎršenstvam)
• Catalan: millorar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 改善 (cmn) (gǎishàn), 提高 (cmn) (tígāo)

• Czech: zlepšit (cs), vylepšit (cs)
• Dutch: beter maken (nl), verbeteren (nl)
• Esperanto: plibonigi (eo)
• Finnish: parantaa (fi)
• French: améliorer (fr), amender (fr)
• Galician: mellorar (gl)
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: verbessern (de)
• Greek: βελτιώνω (el) (veltiono) 
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: javít (hu), tökéletesít (hu)
• Ido: bonigar (io)
• Interlingua: meliorar (ia)

• Irish: leasaigh (ga)
• Italian: migliorare (it), perfezionare (it), fare migliorie (it)
• Japanese: 改良する (ja) (かいりょうする, kairyō-surú), 上達させる (ja) (じょうたつさせる, jōtatsu-saseru), 改善する (ja) (かいぜんする, kaizen-surú)
• Jèrriais: amender
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Latin: melioro (la), corrigo (la)
• Norwegian: forbedre (no)
• Persian: بهبود (fa) (behbud), بهبود دادن (fa)
• Polish: poprawiać (pl), poprawić (pl), ulepszać (pl), ulepszyć (pl), polepszać (pl), polepszyć (pl)
• Portuguese: melhorar (pt)
• Romanian: îmbunătăți (ro)
• Romansch: meglierar (rm)
• Russian: улучшать (ru) (ulučšát')  impf., улучшить (ru) (ulúčšit')  pf.
• Serbo-Croatian: pobòljšati (sh)
• Slovak: please add this translation if you can
• Slovene: izboljšati (sl)
• Spanish: mejorar (es)
• Swedish: förbättra (sv)
• Turkish: düzeltmek (tr)
• Vietnamese: cải thiện (vi), cải tiến (vi)
• Volapük: gudükumön (vo)
• Welsh: gwella (cy)
• Yiddish: פֿאַרבעסערן (yi) (farbesern)

to become better

• American Sign Language: B@TipForearm-PalmBack B@Forearm-PalmBack B@BaseForearm-PalmBack
• Arabic: حسن (ar) (Hassana), تحسن (ar) (taHassana)
• Asturian: ameyorar (ast), meyorar (ast)
• Bulgarian: подобрявам се (bg) (podobrjavam se)
• Catalan: millorar (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 改善 (cmn) (gǎishàn), 提高 (cmn) (tígāo)

• Czech: zlepšit se (cs)
• Dutch: beteren (nl)
• Finnish: parantua (fi)
• French: améliorer (fr)
• Galician: mellorar (gl)
• German: sich verbessern (de)
• Greek: βελτιώνομαι (el) (veltiónomai)
• Hebrew: השתפר (he) (Hishtaper) m
• Hungarian: javul (hu), megjavul (hu)

• Italian: migliorare (it), stare meglio (it)
• Japanese: 良くなる (ja) (yoku-naru), 上達する (ja) (じょうたつする, jōtatsu-surú)
• Latin: corrigo (la), corrigor (la), melioror (la), emendo (la), emendor (la), melirorem fio (la), melius fio (la)
• Norwegian: forbedre seg (no)
• Persian: بهبود یافتن (fa)
• Polish: poprawiać się (pl), poprawić się (pl)
• Portuguese: melhorar (pt)
• Romanian: a se îmbunătăți (ro)
• Russian: улучшаться (ru) (ulučšát'sja)  impf., улучшиться (ru) (ulúčšit'sja)  pf.
• Serbo-Croatian: pobòljšati (sh)
• Slovene: izboljšati se
• Spanish: mejorar (es)
• Swahili: boresha (sw)
• Swedish: bli bättre (sv)
• Vietnamese: cải thiện (vi)
• Volapük: gudikumön (vo)
• Welsh: gwella (cy)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Telugu: మెరుగుపరచు (meruguparachu) (transitive) మెరుగుపడు (merugupaDu)
• Yucatec Maya: ma’alobkin, ma’alobtal