Reform(n.) Amendment of what is defective, vicious, corrupt, or depraved; reformation; as, reform of elections; reform of government.
Reform(v. i.) To return to a good state; to amend or correct one's own character or habits; as, a man of settled habits of vice will seldom reform.
Reform(v. t.) To put into a new and improved form or condition; to restore to a former good state, or bring from bad to good; to change from worse to better; to amend; to correct; as, to reform a profligate man; to reform corrupt manners or morals.
Reformable(a.) Capable of being reformed.
Reformalize(v. i.) To affect reformation; to pretend to correctness.
Reformation(n.) 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.
Reformation(n.) 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.
Reformative(a.) Forming again; having the quality of renewing form; reformatory.
Reformed(a.) Corrected; amended; restored to purity or excellence; said, specifically, of the whole body of Protestant churches originating in the Reformation. Also, in a more restricted sense, of those who separated from Luther on the doctrine of consubstantiation, etc., and carried the Reformation, as they claimed, to a higher point. The Protestant churches founded by them in Switzerland, France, Holland, and part of Germany, were called the Reformed churches.
Reformed(a.) Amended in character and life; as, a reformed gambler or drunkard.
Reformed(a.) Retained in service on half or full pay after the disbandment of the company or troop; -- said of an officer.
Reformer(n.) One who effects a reformation or amendment; one who labors for, or urges, reform; as, a reformer of manners, or of abuses.
Reformer(n.) One of those who commenced the reformation of religion in the sixteenth century, as Luther, Melanchthon, Zwingli, and Calvin.
Reformly(adv.) In the manner of a reform; for the purpose of reform.
Words within reform