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reform

/ˌɹiːˈfɔɹm/noun, verb2 syllables

Reform means: bring, lead, or force to abandon a wrong or evil course of life, conduct, and adopt a right one.

Synonyms for reform16

verb, as in bring, lead, or force to abandon a wrong or evil course of life, conduct, and adopt a right one

reclaim, regenerate, rectify, straighten out, see the light

verb, as in change for the better

straighten out, see the light, reclaim, regenerate, rectify

also used for reform

reformation, amendment, rectification, correction, amend, correct, mend, repair, better, improve, restore

Includes material from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What does reform mean?9

verb

1

bring, lead, or force to abandon a wrong or evil course of life, conduct, and adopt a right one“The Church reformed me”

2

change for the better“The lazy student promised to reform”

3

make changes for improvement in order to remove abuse and injustices“reform a political system”

4

produce by cracking“reform gas”

5

break up the molecules of“reform oil”

6

improve by alteration or correction of errors or defects and put into a better condition“reform the health system in this country”

noun

1

a change for the better as a result of correcting abuses“justice was for sale before the reform of the law courts”

2

a campaign aimed to correct abuses or malpractices“the reforms he proposed were too radical for the politicians”

3

self-improvement in behavior or morals by abandoning some vice“the family rejoiced in the drunkard's reform”

Definitions from the Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

What rhymes with reform?11

two syllables

performinformtransformconformlukewarm
Show 40 near rhymes
fororyourallmorebecausebeforeofflongcalledthoughtfoursupportcallsmalllawwarcoursetalkcourtlostwrongalongyorknorthsawshortreportsongacrossboardforcestrongrecordgonebroughtsourcefalldoglord

Reform in a sentence

  • To be spared from all those horrors, only one remedy is available: language reform.shanghainese
  • More than ever, a reform of the health care system is needed.MUIRIEL
  • The government passed important pension, tax, and fiscal reforms.The_World_Factbook
  • Far from reforming his ways, he gets worse every day.unknown
  • The politician pushed for reform by denouncing the corruption of the government officials.Swift
  • Healthcare reform differentiates our guy from the other candidates.garynw
  • I think that there needs to be reform.CM
  • The time is ripe for a drastic reform.Lumi_alt

Sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR, credited to their authors.

Forms of reform

as a noun

plural
reforms

as a verb

past tense
reformed
present participle
reforming
third-person singular
reforms
past participle
reformed