Improvement vs Better - What's the difference?
improvement | better |
The act of improving]]; advancement or growth; [[promote, promotion in desirable qualities; progress toward what is better; melioration; as, the improvement of the mind, of land, roads, etc.
* (Robert South)
* (Hugh Blair)
* , chapter=19
, title= * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= The act of making profitable use or application of anything, or the state of being profitably employed; a turning to good account; practical application, as of a doctrine, principle, or theory, stated in a discourse.
* (Samuel Clarke)
* (John Tillotson)
The state of being improved; betterment; advance; also, that which is improved; as, the new edition is an improvement on the old.
* (Joseph Addison)
Increase; growth; progress; advance.
* (Joseph Addison)
* (Robert South)
(plural): Valuable additions or betterments, as buildings, clearings, drains, fences, etc., on premises.
(Patent Laws): A useful addition to, or modification of, a machine, manufacture, or composition.
(good)
* {{quote-video, date = 2002-11-01
, title =
, episode =
, number = 4
, passage = Badger:'' You think you're better''' than other people.
''Mal:'' Just the ones I'm ' better than. }} (well)
larger, greater
* 1901 , ,
More, in reference to value, distance, time, etc.
To improve.
* Wordsworth
* Thackeray
* Macaulay
To become better; to improve.
To surpass in excellence; to exceed; to excel.
* Hooker
To give advantage to; to support; to advance the interest of.
* Milton
(slang) Had better.
An entity, usually animate, deemed superior to another; one who has a claim to precedence; a superior.
* Hooker
As nouns the difference between improvement and better
is that improvement is the act of improving]]; advancement or growth; [[promote|promotion in desirable qualities; progress toward what is better; melioration; as, the improvement of the mind, of land, roads, etc while better is an entity, usually animate, deemed superior to another; one who has a claim to precedence; a superior or better can be .As an adjective better is
(good).As an adverb better is
.As a verb better is
to improve.improvement
English
(Webster 1913)Alternative forms
* emprovement (obsolete)Noun
(en noun)- I look upon your city as the best place of improvement .
- Exercise is the chief source of improvement in all our faculties.
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=Nothing was too small to receive attention, if a supervising eye could suggest improvements likely to conduce to the common welfare. Mr. Gordon Burnage, for instance, personally visited dust-bins and back premises, accompanied by a sort of village bailiff, going his round like a commanding officer doing billets.}}
Engineers of a different kind, passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.
- A good improvement of his reason.
- I shall make some improvement of this doctrine.
- The parts of Sinon, Camilla, and some few others, are improvements on the Greek poet.
- There is a design of publishing the history of architecture, with its several improvements and decays.
- Those vices which more particularly receive improvement by prosperity.
Synonyms
* improvalbetter
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) better, bettre, betre, from (etyl) .Adjective
(head)''Mal:'' Just the ones I'm ' better than. }}
Derived terms
* better dead than red * better half * better off * betterness * better part of * get betterAdverb
(head)- “I’ve had enough of cycling with you chaps. I can spend my Sundays better than in tormenting cats and quarrelling and fighting.”
- ten miles and better
Derived terms
* had better * 'd betterVerb
(en verb)- Love betters what is best.
- He thought to better his circumstances.
- the constant effort of every man to better himself
- (Carlyle)
- The works of nature do always aim at that which can not be bettered .
- Weapons more violent, when next we meet, / May serve to better us and worse our foes.
- You better do that if you know what's good for you.
Derived terms
* betterer * bettermentSynonyms
* See alsoNoun
(en noun)- He quickly found Ali his better in the ring.
- Their betters would hardly be found.
