different between amend vs renew

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 renewen, an alteration (possibly on analogy with Latin renov?re) of earlier anewen (“to renew”), from Old English ?en?wian (“to restore; renovate; renew”), equivalent to re- +? new. Cognate with Old High German giniuw?n (“to renew”), Middle High German geniuwen (“to renew”), Old Norse nýja (“to renew”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???nju?/
• Rhymes: -u?
• Hyphenation: re?new

Verb

renew (third-person singular simple present renews, present participle renewing, simple past and past participle renewed)

1. (transitive) To make (something) new again; to restore to freshness or original condition. [from 14^thc.]
   • c.1596-98, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act 5, scene i:

     In such a night / Medea gather’d the enchanted herbs / That did renew old AEson.

2. (transitive) To replace (something which has broken etc.); to replenish (something which has been exhausted), to keep up a required supply of. [from 14^thc.]
3. (theology) To make new spiritually; to regenerate. [from 14th c.]
   • 1526, William Tyndale, Bible (Tyndale), Romans 12.2:

     And fassion not youre selves lyke vnto this worlde: But be ye chaunged in youre shape by the renuynge of youre wittes that ye maye fele what thynge that good yt acceptable and perfaycte will of god is.

4. (now rare, intransitive) To become new, or as new; to revive. [15^th-18^thc.]
   • , II.2.6.ii:

     […] to such as are in fear they strike a great impression, renew many times, and recal such chimeras and terrible fictions into their minds.

   • 2010 September, Michael Allen, "St. Louis Preservation Fund", St. Louis magazine, ISSN 1090-5723, Vol.16, Is.9, p.74:

     Renewing neighborhoods dealing with vacant buildings badly need options other than demolition or dangerous vacant spaces.

5. (transitive) To begin again; to recommence. [from 16^thc.]
   • 1660, John Dryden, translating Virgil, (apparently from Eclogue 4), a snippet of translation used to introduce Dryden's Astræa Redux: A poem on the happy restoration and return of His Sacred Majesty Charles II

     The last great age, foretold by sacred rhymes, / Renews its finished course ; Saturnian times / Roll round again.

   • “A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; […]. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable, and from time to time squinting sideways, as usual, in the ever-renewed expectation that he might catch a glimpse of his stiff, retroussé moustache.

6. (rare) To repeat. [from 17^thc.]
   • 1674, John Milton, Paradise Lost:

     The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds / Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings.

7. (transitive, intransitive) To extend a period of loan, especially a library book that is due to be returned.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:repair

Related terms

• renewal

Translations

Noun

renew (plural renews)

1. Synonym of renewal

Derived terms

• urban renew

Anagrams

• newer, weren