different between amend vs mend

English

Etymology

From Middle English amenden, from Old French amender, from Latin ?mend? (“free from faults”), from ex (“from, out of”) + mendum (“fault”). Compare aphetic mend.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /??m?nd/
• Rhymes: -?nd

Verb

amend (third-person singular simple present amends, present participle amending, simple past and past participle amended)

1. (transitive) To make better; improve.
   • 1594, William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece,^[1]

     Mud not the fountain that gave drink to thee;

     Mar not the thing that cannot be amended.

   • 1820, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, Chapter 13,^[2]

     We shall cheer her sorrows, and amend her blood, by wedding her to a Norman.
2. (intransitive) To become better.
3. (obsolete, transitive) To heal (someone sick); to cure (a disease etc.).
   • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.x:

     But Paridell complaynd, that his late fight / With Britomart, so sore did him offend, / That ryde he could not, till his hurts he did amend.
4. (obsolete, intransitive) To be healed, to be cured, to recover (from an illness).
   • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act IV, Scene 3,^[3]

     Ay, sir; there are a crew of wretched souls

     That stay his cure: their malady convinces

     The great assay of art; but at his touch—

     Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand—

     They presently amend.

5. (transitive) To make a formal alteration (in legislation, a report, etc.) by adding, deleting, or rephrasing.
   • 1876, Henry Martyn Robert, Robert’s Rules of Order, Chicago: S.C. Griggs & Co., Article III, Section 23, p. 46,^[4]

     The following motions cannot be amended:

   • 1990, Doug Hoyle, Hansard, Trade Union Act, 1984, Amendment no. 2, 4 July, 1990,^[5]

     It is necessary to amend the Act to preserve the spirit in which it was first passed into law […]

Synonyms

• ameliorate
• correct
• improve
• See also Thesaurus:improve
• See also Thesaurus:repair

Related terms

Translations

Noun

amend (plural amends)

1. (usually in the plural) An act of righting a wrong; compensation.

References

• amend at OneLook Dictionary Search
• amend in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• amend in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Edman, Mande, Medan, ad-men, admen, deman, maned, menad, named

English

Etymology

From Middle English menden, by apheresis for amenden (“to amend”); see amend.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?nd/
• Rhymes: -?nd

Noun

mend (plural mends)

1. A place, as in clothing, which has been repaired by mending.
2. The act of repairing.

Derived terms

• on the mend

Translations

Verb

mend (third-person singular simple present mends, present participle mending, simple past and past participle mended)

1. (transitive) To repair, as anything that is torn, broken, defaced, decayed, or the like; to restore from partial decay, injury, or defacement.

2. (transitive) To alter for the better; to set right; to reform; hence, to quicken; as, to mend one's manners or pace.
   • 1685, William Temple, Of Gardens

3. (transitive) To help, to advance, to further; to add to.
4. (intransitive) To grow better; to advance to a better state; to become improved.

Derived terms

• least said, soonest mended
• mend one's pace

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:repair

Translations

Related terms

Further reading

• mend in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• mend in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• mend at OneLook Dictionary Search

Polish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /m?nt/

Noun

mend

1. genitive plural of menda