Crossword clues for improve
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
improve
verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a situation improves
▪ The situation has improved over the last decade.
an improved version
▪ The manufacturers come up with new, improved versions each year.
expand/improve your vocabulary (also enrich your vocabularyformal)
▪ Reading helps to expand your vocabulary.
improve relations
▪ The government emphasized the need to improve relations with neighbouring countries.
improve safety
▪ New plans have been announced to improve safety on the railways.
improve (sb's) health
▪ Doing more exercise will improve your health.
improve sb’s performance
▪ These changes significantly improve the performance of the engine.
improve the chance of sth
▪ The book shows you how to improve your chance of success.
improve your fitness
▪ You can improve your fitness by going for a daily run.
improve your image
▪ The casino industry was keen to improve its image.
improve/enhance the appearance of sth/sb
▪ Fresh air improves the appearance of the skin.
improve/enhance the flavour
▪ You can enhance the flavour by adding some cream.
improve/enhance the quality
▪ The measures will improve the quality of the water in the river.
improve/increase efficiency
▪ The company is taking steps to improve efficiency and reduce costs.
▪ Recent efforts by American business to increase efficiency seem to have failed.
improve/remedy a situation
▪ They are doing what they can to improve the situation.
improve/tighten security (=make it better)
▪ Mexico has tightened security along its southern border.
increase/improve your knowledge
▪ If you want to improve your knowledge of the language, you should go and live in France.
▪ In the past twenty years, we have greatly increased our knowledge of how the brain works.
increase/improve/enhance sb’s understanding
▪ The classes really helped to increase our understanding of the subject.
increase/improve/raise productivity
▪ ways of increasing productivity
raise/improve morale
▪ The special meetings were intended to raise morale.
raise/improve standards
▪ We are determined to raise standards in our schools.
sales improve
▪ Sales are expected to improve over the coming year.
sb's health improves
▪ Her health improved slowly after she came home from hospital.
sb's mood improves
▪ By the next morning, her mood had improved.
sb’s position improves
▪ By March, the Democrats' position had improved.
standards improve
▪ The standard of this festival improves every year.
things improve
▪ Things appear to be improving.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
dramatically
▪ The section to the next town of Shanklin is built-up but the route improves dramatically on the way to and out of Ventnor.
▪ Datastorm also has dramatically improved the Procomm installation and setup routines.
▪ Not only did my own shape improve dramatically but so did that of my ladies.
▪ Crop yields will improve dramatically as vegetation thrives on an atmosphere rich in carbon dioxide.
▪ I hope at this point your self-image has improved dramatically.
▪ And their coaching has improved dramatically since ex-Purdue boss Lin Dunn took over late last season.
▪ Either I was wrong at the time or the author has dramatically improved.
▪ Packaging of such systems for the home has improved dramatically.
greatly
▪ Production methods have been greatly improved.
▪ Not surprisingly, this first instance of mass production greatly improved the lot of the people.
▪ However, both these methods would be greatly improved by adding full-length curtains at the sides where space allows.
▪ Although the company lost, chances of success would be greatly improved under the proposed legislation.
▪ Incidentally, Chandos have greatly improved the presentation of their Collect series.
▪ The effect of the resulting orderliness was a greatly improved efficiency.
▪ Enterprise zones have not been environmentally harmful; in many cases standards have greatly improved.
▪ Increased and improved communication plus the passage of time and more frequent face-to-face contacts should greatly improve understanding.
much
▪ In my opinion, these meetings would have been much improved by the presence of a few men.
▪ He is a Man of very good sense, but not much improved in his education.
▪ It has been much improved over the previous version and humanized, to boot.
▪ Watching others leave, even those much improved, could have been discouraging in another way.
▪ If everyone knows and obeys the rules traffic flow and safety at roundabouts is much improved.
▪ Still others take the early scores as evidence that elementary schools are much improved and therefore no longer justify priority attention.
▪ For better-paid workers and their families, housing conditions were much improved and the diet was better.
▪ For now, there is work to be done in Seattle with a team expected to be much improved this season.
significantly
▪ Her mood improved significantly as a result.
▪ Although these occupations may be unavoidably dangerous, it is conceivable that their safety could be significantly improved.
▪ Discussion: Evidently, collocational information can significantly improve the recognition process.
▪ Indeed, even the original bike's designer, Miguel Galluzzi, hasn't been able to significantly improve on it.
▪ Clean them up, and your writing will improve significantly.
▪ Doctors said yesterday his condition had improved significantly, but that it was still serious.
▪ After six months, only the pianists improved significantly on a test of spatial reasoning, assembling a puzzle of a camel.
■ NOUN
appearance
▪ Too see these premises re-opened and repaired would indeed improve the appearance of this area of the town.
▪ Want to improve the appearance of a document?
▪ For instance volunteer groups create external benefits by improving the appearance of the environment, through best-kept village competitions or reclaiming old canals.
▪ What can I do to improve its lifeless appearance?
▪ It is true that embalming improves the appearance of a corpse if it is to be viewed by friends and relations.
▪ This considerably improves appearance and provides for the disinfection requirement.
▪ Second phase With the essentials complete, the second phase of the project - to improve overall appearance, is well under way.
▪ A grill is good for improving the appearance of microwaved food.
attempt
▪ This is important because there are many interests which may try to stifle attempts to improve health care.
▪ Until these patterns are changed or eliminated, any attempt at improving individual performance is likely to prove futile.
▪ It was upon them that the legal profession focussed in the early 1970s in an attempt to improve its tarnished public image.
▪ Officer Bass said he has met with protective agency workers in an attempt to improve communications.
▪ It is easiest to see this in attempts to improve one's chances of promotion.
▪ Car ownership and use grow continuously, severely undermining the government's fragile attempts to improve the environment.
▪ Lakatos developed his picture of science in an attempt to improve on, and overcome the objections to, Popperian falsificationism.
▪ Many current government programmes reflect major attempts to improve social and economic conditions in an increasingly complex society.
care
▪ This is important because there are many interests which may try to stifle attempts to improve health care.
▪ Whether this revolution has improved medical care or worsened it is open to dispute.
▪ Computer generated protocols Editor, - Richard J Lilford and colleagues show that structured methods of recording data can improve patient care.
▪ Thursday, Vacco announced a new statewide commission to examine ways of improving the quality of care for the dying.
▪ And hospital chiefs are confident the shops will turn in healthy profits that will be used to improve patient care.
▪ Problems can be clearly identified through an audit, and solutions can be found to improve service and nutritional care.
▪ He also listed the capital investments that have been made to improve health care in his constituency.
▪ None is more demanding than the increasing clamor for improved quality of care while concomitantly reducing costs.
chance
▪ With every passing day our chances of relief improve.
▪ Kinship can pay an individual to reduce its own chances if it improves the prospects of other members of its family.
▪ In addition, it is possible that colonic decompression may reduce the chance of perforation and improve blood flow to the bowel wall.
▪ But these children could have a wonderful chance to improve their skills.
▪ Industrial workers' best chance of improving their prospects is to act as a global working class.
education
▪ Second, it is purposeful, directed towards improving the effectiveness of education.
▪ He is a Man of very good sense, but not much improved in his education.
▪ The motive behind the shake-up has been to improve post-16 education.
▪ Recognizing this, a number of black parents no longer see integration as central to an improved education for their children.
▪ Ultimately, economic growth and improved education are the best ways to raise wages.
▪ Effective school-to-work systems are not just a new and improved version of vocational education.
efficiency
▪ If the scientists succeed, they will have taken a small step toward improving the efficiency of nuclear fusion devices.
▪ Switched hubs can improve network efficiency by more than an order of magnitude.
▪ These improvements are currently being geared to improving efficiency and output from the normal working day.
▪ In private industry, a budget analyst examines, analyzes, and seeks new ways to improve efficiency and increase profits.
▪ But cutting greenhouse emissions from transport will take more than just improving the efficiency of cars and trucks.
▪ Any profits from improved production efficiency are retained by the partners rather than benefiting the consortium.
▪ Both will seek to develop new markets and improve efficiency by adjusting timetables, introducing better locomotive diagramming and crew rosters.
▪ It was in 1763 that an event occurred which led Watt radically to improve the efficiency of Newcomen type steam engines.
effort
▪ Motor industry analysts say Rover's upturn is partly down to efforts to improve its image.
▪ An appropriate response, it seemed, would have been for the company to redouble its efforts to improve its own offering.
▪ Meanwhile, residential social work is hedged about with overt and unspoken rules in any effort to improve matters.
▪ The panel has met twice in an effort to work out improved procedures.
▪ Late in the nineteenth century some efforts were made to improve irrigation facilities in these areas, where.
▪ Black efforts to improve their circumstances were met with hostility and suspicion, and finally, open aggression.
▪ Only time will tell if this is a serious effort at improving both public sector accountability and overall performance.
▪ Aiding his efforts was an improved method for dating rock known as uranium-lead isotope analysis.
environment
▪ Car ownership and use grow continuously, severely undermining the government's fragile attempts to improve the environment.
▪ The city is planning to talk with local commercial brokers about what can be done to improve the business environment.
▪ It aims to improve awareness of the environment and looks at energy, transport, pollution and recycling.
▪ Emerson had written that the proposed trade agreement could help improve the border environment.
▪ The subcommittee questioned industry representatives on the role companies could play in improving the environment.
▪ Its underlying objective was to improve the man-made environment by testing a range of products.
▪ Considerable global assets have been spent to prevent non-communicable diseases - for example, with major investments to improve the environment.
▪ He is, however looking to improve his environment by joining most of his immediate colleagues in West Lothian!
facility
▪ Some farms had in recent times improved their stock handling facilities and this had helped greatly.
▪ Immediate priorities should include improving facilities to deal with infectious agents that require high level microbiological safety precautions. iii.
▪ A Northallerton Town football player has been signed up to improve fitness facilities at Hambleton leisure centres.
▪ Late in the nineteenth century some efforts were made to improve irrigation facilities in these areas, where.
▪ It is now looking to raise a further £900,000 to improve facilities.
▪ In addition to the afternoon's official programme, there were several extra events, all raising funds to improve facilities at the centre.
▪ Stamford are improving their already rad facilities - more street stuff, a fun box with a handrail.
▪ If local authorities do seek to improve their residential care facilities, what form might this take?
game
▪ I am a high-handicapper, but as keen as anyone else to improve my game.
▪ He must improve his overall game.
▪ And the public don't like it because they want high-tech equipment to improve their games.
▪ One needed a steady supply of opponents; men as good as oneself-better if one really wished to improve one's game.
▪ If you are changing your swing technique around to improve your game, it should never necessitate not playing on the course.
▪ All the Wilsons ladies' clubs incorporate features designed to help women players improve and enjoy their game.
▪ From that time onwards, when other children were out playing, they were practising their tennis and improving their game.
health
▪ Constanze, thoroughly alarmed, forbade him to do any more work on the Requiem until his health improved.
▪ Almost at once Victor Amadeus's health began to improve.
▪ Once home again in Ninfania, his health improved.
▪ Mental health is also improved among patients who pray, according to studies.
▪ It might be expected that the percentage thinking that health had improved since their parents' time would increase with age.
▪ All of them found ways to reduce the toxicity and to regain their health and improve their productivity.
▪ My health is improving from day to day.
▪ Join a health club to improve your fitness and figure. look carefully at your clothes.
image
▪ Motor industry analysts say Rover's upturn is partly down to efforts to improve its image.
▪ The only way Marana can improve its image is to improve the way it does business.
▪ Napoli 99 is a private organisation founded in1984 to improve the negative image that the city was acquiring.
▪ They usually focus on one of three areas: normal eating; comfortable exercise; or improved body image.
▪ A police report said the scheme would improve the image of Middlesbrough town centre night-life.
▪ The World Bank is finding it difficult to improve its image.
▪ The private sector, for example, was central to the approach, and improving the city's image was seen as vital.
▪ Also a conservatory can improve the overall image and give an extra incentive to attract new customers.
life
▪ The Plan sets out a vision to improve the quality of life.
▪ We as a union knew that our primary job was to protect the worker and improve his economic life.
▪ I thought that might improve my life but on Monday Barron demonstrated that was not true, so I left.
▪ Clinical trials provide valuable information on new treatments that can save lives or improve quality of life.
▪ But the volunteers could only pledge to try and improve life for them.
▪ It would improve the quality of life for residents, families and staff in residential care, to set clear goals.
▪ He repeated promises that the council was doing all it could to improve the quality of life for residents in the area.
lot
▪ The founding of these organisations gave real impetus to a movement directed towards improving the lot of domestic animals.
▪ Not surprisingly, this first instance of mass production greatly improved the lot of the people.
▪ If they're married, they look to improve their lot and that of their family.
▪ There is no middle class and little opportunity to improve one's lot.
▪ Now, I believe that a Labour Government holds more promise of greatly improving the lot of people with HIV/AIDS.
▪ The Eastern philosophies and religions have little to offer in improving the lot of mankind.
▪ He was also the leader of a pressure-group to improve the lot of old-age pensioners.
▪ The second proposal is to allow people collectively to improve their lot.
management
▪ The structure of the business development group can also improve relationship management.
▪ Under no pressure to improve, management had itself ignored the reality of the situation.
▪ The belief that government performance can be improved by better management is hardly new.
▪ Failing schools are improved and failing management is replaced.
▪ It calls on countries to improve management of plantations and set aside remaining native forests to allow them to regenerate naturally.
▪ The Priority Estates Project, designed to improve the management of public-sector housing, is discussed in Chapter 4.
▪ Some local areas will be amalgamated to improve their economics and management.
▪ Landfill tax credits have been used to restore these ancient boundaries, and to improve water management on the site.
measure
▪ Some companies are taking measures to improve this situation.
▪ Yet when they lost weight, all those measures improved.
▪ There are also other measures that can improve overall health and make the body more resilient.
▪ One policy of the Regional Council is to introduce measures to improve conditions and facilities for pedestrians and cyclists.
▪ The combination of those measures will improve the situation dramatically.
▪ But these measures had to improve.
performance
▪ The use of statistical process control by world class manufacturing companies shows how non-financial information can be used to improve performance.
▪ Mounting a strong staff development component to help special education staff to improve their performance on the job. 5.
▪ As a result it is often difficult to analyse the errors of a probabilistic system in an effort to improve its performance.
▪ Peer pressure among journalists also can have a powerful influence on improving performance.
▪ Hartzell claim improved take-off and climb performance, reduced noise and vibration, and better ground clearance.
▪ Even a Little League coach urged Ritalin for a 9-year-old catcher to improve his performance.
▪ Simply improving the performance of the pattern recognition module will not produce a recognition performance comparable to that of a human.
▪ If you experience difficulty in reaching these standards, your manager will try to help you improve your performance.
position
▪ She was a little sorry for him, but also glad that she had improved her position since they last met.
▪ If his opponents were intent on overplaying their hand, it could only improve his position with the cardinal.
▪ Instead, particular professions try to improve their individual staffing position.
▪ But governments are still likely to emerge from it having promised to improve women's position across the board.
▪ This may also not be the best, but it is hard to see how Black can improve his position.
▪ Our refining costs remain lower than those of the industry and we are taking steps to improve on this advantaged position.
▪ The right hon. Gentleman said that a reduction in the prison population was the way to improve the position in prisons.
▪ Two accounting changes could help trusts improve their revenue positions.
productivity
▪ Thus an industrial salesperson may be able to advise his customers on improving productivity or cutting costs.
▪ This chapter explains how that broader application facilitates decentralization and greater employee interest in improving quality and productivity.
▪ Hydraulic Fracturing Hydraulic fracturing is a method frequently used in Carboniferous wells to improve productivity.
▪ All of them found ways to reduce the toxicity and to regain their health and improve their productivity.
▪ He thinks the changes would improve the productivity of the office and enable it to handle more work each week.
▪ It also seeks to improve productivity by mining 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
▪ Making change in processes and systems to improve efficiency and productivity.
▪ But in his search he could find only pieces of various techniques to improve quality and productivity.
quality
▪ This easy-to-read article presents business examples of ways to measure and improve service quality.
▪ Congress required this to improve air quality in cities whose air violates health standards.
▪ The project is one of several at schools around the country, with the aim of improving pupils' quality of life.
▪ He responded with courage and knocked back the load of special interests trying to weaken efforts to improve air quality.
▪ We will establish an independent National Statistical Commission to collect and publish statistics and improve their quality.
▪ What they were concerned about-and we were concerned about-was improving quality.
▪ In recent years, a lot of work has gone into improving the quality of care that patients receive from the health service.
▪ Wise entrepreneurs understand that what they do should improve the quality of their lives and the lives of everyone they touch.
rate
▪ He has set up the Starbucks Foundation to help improve literacy rates.
▪ So in 1990, School &038; Main launched an ambitious initiative to improve college retention rates for young people called Higher Ground.
▪ One of these is to improve prosecution and conviction rates.
▪ The improving default rate is a welcome sign, they say.
▪ A push to improve the overall attendance rate involved several different strategies.
▪ The Cheltenham trainer has steadily improved his strike rate over the past five years and should eclipse his 1991/92 tally of 31.
▪ How then, do we retain our numbers and improve our success rate?
safety
▪ We have helped to establish the Football Trust, which now devotes £20 million a year to improving the safety of grounds.
▪ Functional matters For paths and steps, permanent mains-voltage lighting can improve safety considerably.
▪ It provides assistance to member states in improving safety practices in the chemical industry.
▪ We will eliminate racial discrimination in housing allocation and improve safety on estates.
▪ The findings could lead to improved seismic safety standards at nuclear plants.
▪ The money will be used to restructure workshops, improve site safety and increase environmental protection.
▪ About three weeks ago, Teran released a four-year strategic plan to improve public safety throughout Baja California.
school
▪ It will prevent the taking of prompt action to improve failing schools.
▪ In 1993, the consortium published a report on its seven most improved high schools.
▪ To improve secondary school library provision and the quality of book selection.
▪ The schools had not improved, although new school buildings were planned.
▪ Some of the obsequies that marked Chris Woodhead's passing spoke of his work to improve school standards.
▪ Some of the chiefs also urged improved information sharing between schools and law enforcement officials.
▪ In the last five years, £9 million has been spent on improving school buildings in the area.
▪ The city in 1995 began levying an education tax to improve schools, for example.
service
▪ The Conservative Government always said that we had to create wealth first, and then improve our public services.
▪ Problems can be clearly identified through an audit, and solutions can be found to improve service and nutritional care.
▪ It has recently completed a major computerisation programme which will enable it to improve its service to the customer still further.
▪ Short-term projects to improve customer service might buck up the conviction of those managers.
▪ They rake through customer complaints for ideas for improving their products or service.
▪ That money has been plowed back into the budget to improve services, he said.
▪ Labour still believes that it has a better story about its own plans for improving public services than the Tories.
▪ Since it began its pay-for-#service test about two years ago, the bureau has improved its service, he said.
situation
▪ The region claims the situation should improve this year with new storm water tanks in Dunfermline reducing the likelihood of overflows.
▪ He reappeared as soon as the battlefield situation improved.
▪ If, however, other countries take similar measures to cut pollution, the situation obviously improves.
▪ And the situation is barely improving, if at all.
▪ However, the therapist did not think that the situation had improved and therefore offered further open access.
▪ While efforts are afoot to retain experienced sailors and train more, it may take years before the situation improves.
▪ You should find that with regular watering and feeding until the foliage dies down naturally the situation will improve next year.
▪ Although my tuition skyrocketed in Miami, our financial situation improved.
skill
▪ Keeping up to date, helping to improve skills for the off-farm job, and making contact with other farmers were other minor responses.
▪ In some cases, the temporary help company will train employees to improve their skills.
▪ The main conclusion to be drawn here is that the way to aid slow readers is to improve their word-recognition skills.
▪ I came here to improve on my soccer skills.
▪ She may lack motivation to increase knowledge and improve skills, and appear uninterested.
▪ Player ratings and statistics change as the players learn and improve their skills with playing experience.
▪ We must ensure that they receive ample opportunities to improve their skills and monitor their progress.
▪ Clearly, though, the best way to improve your presentation skills is through practice and constructive criticism, hardly new concepts.
standard
▪ Labour standards improved in the West as countries became richer, not because draconian conditions were imposed on them from outside.
▪ It said standards would be further improved.
▪ Secondly, social work is likely to become more professional as training standards improve.
▪ The obvious conclusion here is that the Giants are more likely to lose games to the new standard than improve them.
▪ Enterprise zones have not been environmentally harmful; in many cases standards have greatly improved.
▪ In addition, environmental standards have improved - sometimes dramatically - and leisure and recreational facilities have been substantially enhanced.
▪ Global demand is projected to double over the next 30 years as population increases and living standards improve.
system
▪ The Bill is the latest in a long line of measures to protect society from criminals and to improve the penal system.
▪ Qigong is said to improve the immune system and restore physical energy.
▪ We will improve recycling and waste-disposal systems.
▪ Even if returns improve, the pension system still faces serious problems.
▪ There was then more silence, and I was later told that the Microwriter company had been improving the Agenda system.
▪ Since then, she has gained 80 pounds and begun to show an improved immune system and responsiveness.
▪ The firm is also committed to integrating object technology to improve workflow automation, systems management and decision support functionality.
▪ But this bill would hurt families without truly improving our legal system.
things
▪ If we had more courage at Goodison in facing up to the truth unpalatable though it may be things might begin to improve.
▪ Her boss was pleased with her new forthrightness, and things improved.
▪ BIf things do not improve, then parents are summoned to a private meeting with school and district attorney officials.
▪ He did some things he will improve on.
▪ While things have improved in 1992, champagne is still struggling.
▪ People, not things, improve an organization.
▪ That was back in the early 1600s and things had been improving gradually ever since.
▪ The pity of it was, not long after my father died in 1933 things improved quite a lot in the material sense.
ways
▪ It gives clear detailed instructions, answers queries and suggests ways to improve your technique.
▪ Instead, he lay in the room next door and thought about new ways to improve the bungalow.
▪ It focuses on the manager helping the individual to find ways to improve in the future.
▪ Ask the students to suggest ways they could improve the sound.
▪ Part of the agitation for reform of local government concerned ways of improving this research function.
▪ Worker suggestions were sought for ways to improve the proposed layout.
▪ The group also will look for ways to improve the safety of nuclear power plants worldwide.
■ VERB
aim
▪ Two other recent products aim to improve the way in which light is reflected from the skin.
▪ Wilson also is proposing modest environmental programs aimed at improving the coast and wetlands.
▪ Comprising area energy representatives, the committee aims to improve energy performance by exchanging information and ideas on best practice.
▪ Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler Corp. are displaying all-aluminum cars -- an old idea -- aimed at improving fuel economy.
▪ They aim to improve family relationships and parenting skills in order to reduce the possibility of family break-up.
▪ The Eisenhower grant, established in the 1950s, is aimed at improving education in science, math and technology.
▪ It aims to improve awareness of the environment and looks at energy, transport, pollution and recycling.
continue
▪ Meanwhile, the price of laser-printers halves every four years or so, and their resolution and speed continue to improve.
▪ Management continued to improve across the board, and success yielded more success.
▪ He also vowed to maintain ties with the United States while continuing to improve relations with the Soviet Union.
▪ Percentage Defects continue to improve as shown by a noticeable reduction in variability and level.
▪ The challenge for all of us working in palliative care is how to continue to improve.
▪ The mass payback continues to improve with each additional mission.
▪ Innovation and learning: How can we continue to improve.
▪ First, continue to improve your human relations skills.
design
▪ The final plank of the strategy is designed to improve the attractiveness of nursing as a career in competition with others.
▪ Example: Our food stamp program is designed to improve the diets of low-income families.
▪ This programme was designed to improve their relationship with Gary by providing opportunities for mutually reinforcing activities.
▪ The following exercises were designed to improve flexibility as it relates to driving.
▪ They did so before and after the individuals involved had been on an intensive programme designed to improve their reading.
▪ The Post Office and its unions have entered into agreements which are designed to improve productivity.
▪ The Project has three aims designed to improve our knowledge and understanding of the business community.
help
▪ It looks as though the parasites are actually helping their host by improving its shell.
▪ This person, whether a business associate or spouse, is exerting energy to help you improve.
▪ Wordpower and Numberpower are certificates that have been introduced to help candidates improve their communication and numeracy skills.
▪ Talking it over will help improve communication.
▪ Trafford education authority has received about £13 million in the past two years to help it reorganise and improve its schools.
▪ Emerson had written that the proposed trade agreement could help improve the border environment.
▪ He has set up the Starbucks Foundation to help improve literacy rates.
▪ Allen King in Salinas has also adopted a new approach to helping his obese patients improve the quality of their lives.
need
▪ It is an important Bill even if, as it stands, we believe that it needs to be improved.
▪ The mortgage payments were no small trouble, what with his sister gone; he needed to improve his profits, dramatically.
▪ Once behind their peers they need individual attention to improve their reading.
▪ What is needed to improve? 5.
▪ Consider whether lawyers need to improve their typing skills.
▪ They needed to improve organizational performance with the equipment and the people at hand.
▪ We particularly need to improve the placement of our publicity material in tourist centres, including the development of hotel packs.
▪ Some parents say back-to-basics schools are exactly what is needed to improve public education in Arizona.
seek
▪ In each encounter with discourse, we start with a set of assumptions, whose accuracy we seek to improve.
▪ Worker suggestions were sought for ways to improve the proposed layout.
▪ If local authorities do seek to improve their residential care facilities, what form might this take?
▪ It would be customer driven, set goals, measure itself, and seek to continuously improve.
▪ Recently the Dulverton Trust has contributed more than £1 million to charities which seek to improve industrial relations.
▪ It also seeks to improve productivity by mining 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
▪ Media training courses run by the Press and Parliamentary Unit continued to attract in numbers lawyers seeking to improve their publicity skills.
▪ In private industry, a budget analyst examines, analyzes, and seeks new ways to improve efficiency and increase profits.
try
▪ Or to try and improve the lives of the people who would one day be his subjects?
▪ We will continue to advertise, and try to improve it, and build an audience.
▪ And they send over their secretary of state to praise you for trying to improve relations and then they resume financial assistance.
▪ Everyone tries to improve on past performances and learn from mistakes.
▪ What you can do It's important for anyone with arthritis to try to retain and improve mobility through exercise and movement.
▪ Instead, particular professions try to improve their individual staffing position.
▪ Mr Threlfall added that the service was not complacent and was always trying to improve.
▪ Management has recognised this and over recent decades has tried various ways to improve this front line contact.
work
▪ The author's royalties will all go to charities working to improve the welfare of farm animals.
▪ But they want to see you working, trying to improve.
▪ This would not preclude close working relations between purchasers and providers working closely to improve quality.
▪ So even when he worked hard to improve in that area, he simply could not get people on his side.
▪ Many thanks to all involved for working so hard towards improving our bank balance.
▪ That would be left to government statisticians, who would work simultaneously to improve the index.
▪ We have really worked hard on improving and focusing and repositioning the engineering operation of the cars.
▪ It discourages housing authorities from working to improve their operations.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ By managing natural resources more effectively, our quality of human life could be improved greatly.
▪ Changes will be made if the situation doesn't improve.
▪ Conditions in prisons have improved dramatically in the last 20 years.
▪ I wanted to improve my French, so I got a job in Paris.
▪ In the weeks that followed, his health continued to improve.
▪ Let's hope the weather improves before Saturday.
▪ My health finally began to improve when I changed to a less stressful job.
▪ She was told to go back to the doctor in two weeks if she hadn't improved.
▪ Some wines improve with age.
▪ Susie's improving gradually with this new treatment.
▪ The funds will go towards improving road and rail services.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ In some cases, the temporary help company will train employees to improve their skills.
▪ It is librarians and information scientists who can best improve the latter situation.
▪ Medical facilities, too, have vastly improved and are more widely available.
▪ The goal of donor led initiatives should be to improve health care, not to increase private provision.
▪ The only way Marana can improve its image is to improve the way it does business.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Improve
Improve \Im*prove"\, v. i.
-
To grow better; to advance or make progress in what is desirable; to make or show improvement; as, to improve in health.
We take care to improve in our frugality and diligence.
--Atterbury. To advance or progress in bad qualities; to grow worse. ``Domitian improved in cruelty.''
--Milner.-
To increase; to be enhanced; to rise in value; as, the price of cotton improves.
To improve on or To improve upon, to make useful additions or amendments to, or changes in; to bring nearer to perfection; as, to improve on the mode of tillage.
Improve
Improve \Im*prove"\, v. t. [Pref. im- not + prove: cf. L. improbare, F. improuver.]
-
To disprove or make void; to refute. [Obs.]
Neither can any of them make so strong a reason which another can not improve.
--Tyndale. -
To disapprove; to find fault with; to reprove; to censure; as, to improve negligence. [Obs.]
--Chapman.When he rehearsed his preachings and his doing unto the high apostles, they could improve nothing.
--Tyndale.
Improve
Improve \Im*prove"\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Improved; p. pr. & vb. n. Improving.] [Pref. in- in + prove, in approve. See Approve, Prove.]
-
To make better; to increase the value or good qualities of; to ameliorate by care or cultivation; as, to improve land.
--Donne.I love not to improve the honor of the living by impairing that of the dead.
--Denham. -
To use or employ to good purpose; to make productive; to turn to profitable account; to utilize; as, to improve one's time; to improve his means.
--Shak.We shall especially honor God by improving diligently the talents which God hath committed to us.
--Barrow.A hint that I do not remember to have seen opened and improved.
--Addison.The court seldom fails to improve the opportunity.
--Blackstone.How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour.
--I. Watts.Those moments were diligently improved.
--Gibbon.True policy, as well as good faith, in my opinion, binds us to improve the occasion.
--Washington. -
To advance or increase by use; to augment or add to; -- said with reference to what is bad. [R.]
We all have, I fear, . . . not a little improved the wretched inheritance of our ancestors.
--Bp. Porteus.Syn: To better; meliorate; ameliorate; advance; heighten; mend; correct; rectify; amend; reform.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
improve
late 15c., "to use to one's profit, to increase (income)," from Anglo-French emprouwer "to turn to profit" (late 13c.), from Old French en-, causative prefix, + prou "profit," from Latin prode "advantageous" (see proud). Spelling with -v- was rare before 17c. Meaning "to raise to a better quality or condition" first recorded 1610s. Phrase improve the occasion retains the etymological sense. Meaning "to turn land to profit" (by clearing it, erecting buildings, etc.) was in Anglo-French (13c.) and was retained in the American colonies.
Wiktionary
improve
vb. (lb en transitive) To make (something) better; to increase the value or productivity (of something).
WordNet
improve
v. to make better; "The editor improved the manuscript with his changes" [syn: better, amend, ameliorate, meliorate] [ant: worsen]
get better; "The weather improved toward evening" [syn: better, ameliorate, meliorate] [ant: worsen]
Usage examples of "improve".
In fact, a cabinet organ is simply an accordeon of immense power and improved mechanism.
As time passed and his French improved, Adams further realized that Franklin spoke the language poorly and understood considerably less than he let on.
In October, determined to improve the situation, Adams urged Lee to give up living at Chaillot and move in with them at the Hotel de Valentinois.
What appears to have pleased Adams no less was the discovery during his parting call at Versailles that his French had so improved he could manage an extended conversation and speak as rapidly as he pleased.
Brunelleschi, though it was built on and improved by Leon Battista Alberti and Piero della Francesca.
In general, the persecuted sects, Anabaptists and Unitarians, were firmly for tolerance, by which their own position would have been improved.
The scraper of the Esquimaux and the Andaman islanders is but an enlarged and improved edition of the Miocene scraper.
In Chapter V, above, we left the antisubmarine situation in June 1942 considerably improved, but it did not long stay improved.
Which meant that it would be up to him, Caesar, to try to improve the Antonian fortune.
Maggie with excited touches tried to improve her setting of the table, aquiver with expectancy and suspense at the nearness of the meeting-- every nerve of audition strained to catch the first footfall upon the stairs.
Angarak atrocities, their archery improved to the point that no place in the horde was truly safe from Asturian arrows, and Kal Torak of Mallorea took horrid casualties as he marched west toward Vo Mimbre.
I was experimenting with Aterian spear points trying to improve on their technique.
The same doctors who listen to Continuing Medical Education audiocassettes on their car stereos, intent on keeping up with every innovation that might improve their outcome statistics, may regard cross-cultural medicine as a form of political bamboozlement, an assault on their rationality rather than a potentially lifesaving therapy.
More important, however, is that the transfer would improve commerce between the Belt and the Triplanetary population, defusing the more volatile Belter Autarchists, who view trade with Triplanetary as both expensive and pointless.
As you improve, you can continue your automatic writing sessions for longer periods of time.