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Repair vs Mend - What's the difference?

repair | mend |

Mend is a antonym of repair.



As nouns the difference between repair and mend

is that repair is the act of repairing something while mend is a place, as in clothing, which has been repaired by mending.

As verbs the difference between repair and mend

is that repair is to restore to good working order, fix, or improve damaged condition; to mend; to remedy while mend is to repair, as anything that is torn, broken, defaced, decayed, or the like; to restore from partial decay, injury, or defacement; to patch up; to put in shape or order again; to re-create; as, to mend a garment or a machine.

repair

English

Etymology 1

Coined between 1300 and 1350 from (etyl) .

Noun

(en noun)
  • The act of repairing something.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2014-06-14, volume=411, issue=8891, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= It's a gas , passage=One of the hidden glories of Victorian engineering is proper drains.
  • The result of repairing something.
  • The condition of something, in respect of need for repair.
  • Derived terms
    * disrepair

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To restore to good working order, fix, or improve damaged condition; to mend; to remedy.
  • to repair a house, a road, a shoe, or a ship
    to repair a shattered fortune
  • * Milton
  • secret refreshings that repair his strength
  • * Wordsworth
  • Do thou, as thou art wont, repair / My heart with gladness.
  • To make amends for, as for an injury, by an equivalent; to indemnify for.
  • to repair a loss or damage
  • * Shakespeare
  • I'll repair the misery thou dost bear.
    Synonyms
    * See also
    Derived terms
    * repairable / reparable, repairer

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) . Cognate to repatriate.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The act of repairing or resorting to a place.
  • our annual repair to the mountains
  • * Clarendon
  • The king sent a proclamation for their repair to their houses.
  • A place to which one goes frequently or habitually; a haunt.
  • * Dryden
  • There the fierce winds his tender force assail / And beat him downward to his first repair .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To transfer oneself to another place.
  • :
  • *(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • *:Go, mount the winds, and to the shades repair .
  • *1850 , , (Jane Eyre)
  • *:I heard the visitors repair to their chambers.
  • *
  • *:That finished, I repaired to my room, one flight up, and, after a thorough wash, seated myself, pipe in mouth, at the little window that opened on the Rue Garde. I had nothing more exciting on hand than to wait for word from Von Lindowe. I sincerely hoped that it would not be long, for it is not my forte to sit twiddling my thumbs.
  • Derived terms
    * repatriate

    Etymology 3

    From .

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to pair again
  • mend

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A place, as in clothing, which has been repaired by mending.
  • The act of repairing.
  • My trousers have a big rip in them and need a mend .

    Derived terms

    * on the mend

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To repair, as anything that is torn, broken, defaced, decayed, or the like; to restore from partial decay, injury, or defacement; to patch up; to put in shape or order again; to re-create; as, to mend a garment or a machine.
  • My trousers have a big rip in them and need mending .
    When your car breaks down, you can take it to the garage to have it mended .
  • To alter for the better; to set right; to reform; hence, to quicken; as, to mend one's manners or pace.
  • Her stutter was mended by a speech therapist.
    My broken heart was mended .
  • * Sir W. Temple
  • The best service they could do the state was to mend the lives of the persons who composed it.
  • To help, to advance, to further; to add to.
  • * Mortimer
  • Though in some lands the grass is but short, yet it mends garden herbs and fruit.
  • * Shakespeare
  • You mend the jewel by wearing it.
  • To grow better; to advance to a better state; to become improved.
  • Derived terms

    * mend one's pace
    Synonyms
    * See also