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Leap vs Improve - What's the difference?

leap | improve |

As a noun leap

is (acronym).

As a verb improve is

(lb) to make (something) better; to increase the value or productivity (of something).

leap

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) lepen, from (etyl) ‘to stumble’).

Verb

  • To jump.
  • * anonymous, Merlin
    • It is grete nede a man to go bak to recouer the better his leep
  • * 1600 , anonymous, The wisdome of Doctor Dodypoll , act 4
    • I, I defie thee: wert not thou next him when he leapt into the Riuer?
  • * 1783 , , from the “Illiad” in Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres , lecture 4, page 65
    • Th’ infernal monarch rear’d his horrid head, Leapt from his throne, lest Neptune’s arm should lay His dark dominions open to the day.
  • * 1999 , Ai, Vice: New & Selected Poems , page 78
    • It is better to leap into the void.
  • To pass over by a leap or jump.
    • to leap a wall or a ditch
  • To copulate with (a female beast); to cover.
  • To cause to leap.
    • to leap a horse across a ditch
    Usage notes
    The choice between leapt and leaped is mostly a matter of regional differences: leapt is preferred in British English and leaped in American English. According to research by John Algeo (British or American English? , Cambridge, 2006), leapt is used 80% of the time in UK and 32% in the US.
    Synonyms
    * (jump from one location to another) bound, hop, jump, spring * (jump upwards) bound, hop, jump, spring

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of leaping or jumping.
  • * L'Estrange
    • Wickedness comes on by degrees, and sudden leaps from one extreme to another are unnatural.
  • * H. Sweet
    • Changes of tone may proceed either by leaps or glides.
  • The distance traversed by a leap or jump.
  • (figuratively) A significant move forward.
  • * 1969 July 20, , as he became the first man to step on the moon
    • That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.
  • (mining) A fault.
  • Copulation with, or coverture of, a female beast.
  • (music) A passing from one note to another by an interval, especially by a long one, or by one including several other intermediate intervals.
  • (obsolete) A basket.
    • (Wyclif)
  • A weel or wicker trap for fish.
    • (Webster 1913)
    Derived terms
    * by leaps and bounds * leap day * leapfrog * leaping lizards * leap of faith * leaps and bounds * leap second * leap year * look before you leap * quantum leap

    Etymology 2

    From (etyl) leep, from (etyl) .

    Alternative forms

    * leep

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • basket
  • a trap or snare for fish
  • half a bushel

    • Anagrams

    * English irregular verbs

    improve

    English

    Alternative forms

    * emprove (obsolete)

    Verb

    (improv)
  • (lb) To make (something) better; to increase the value or productivity (of something).
  • :
  • :
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-22, volume=407, issue=8841, page=70, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Engineers of a different kind , passage=Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers. Piling debt onto companies’ balance-sheets is only a small part of what leveraged buy-outs are about, they insist. Improving the workings of the businesses they take over is just as core to their calling, if not more so. Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster.}}
  • (lb) To become better.
  • :
  • :
  • *
  • *:“My Continental prominence is improving ,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”
  • (lb) To disprove or make void; to refute.
  • *(William Tyndale) (1494-1536)
  • *:Neither can any of them make so strong a reason which another cannot improve .
  • (lb) To disapprove of; to find fault with; to reprove; to censure.
  • :
  • :(Chapman)
  • *(William Tyndale) (1494-1536)
  • *:When he rehearsed his preachings and his doing unto the high apostles, they could improve nothing.
  • (lb) To use or employ to good purpose; to turn to profitable account.
  • :
  • *(Isaac Barrow) (1630-1677)
  • *:We shall especially honour God by improving diligently the talents which God hath committed to us.
  • *(Joseph Addison) (1672-1719)
  • *:a hint that I do not remember to have seen opened and improved
  • *(William Blackstone) (1723-1780)
  • *:The court seldom fails to improve the opportunity.
  • *(Isaac Watts) (1674-1748)
  • *:How doth the little busy bee / Improve each shining hour.
  • *(George Washington) (1732-1799)
  • *:True policy, as well as good faith, in my opinion, binds us to improve the occasion.

    • Synonyms

    * (to make something better) ameliorate, better, batten, enhance * See also

    Antonyms

    * (to make something worse) deteriorate, worsen * (to become worse) deteriorate, worsen

    Derived terms

    * improvement