Reform

Reform, rē-form′, v.t. to form again or anew: to transform: to make better: to remove that which is objectionable from: to repair or improve: to reclaim.—v.i. to become better: to abandon evil: to be corrected or improved.—n. a forming anew: change, amendment, improvement: an extension or better distribution of parliamentary representation, as in the Reform Bill.—adj. Refor′mable.—n. Reformā′tion, the act of forming again: the act of reforming: amendment: improvement: the great religious revolution of the 16th century, which gave rise to the various evangelical or Protestant organisations of Christendom.—adjs. Refor′mātive, forming again or anew: tending to produce reform; Refor′mātory, reforming: tending to produce reform.—n. an institution for reclaiming youths and children who have been convicted of crime.—adj. Reformed′, formed again or anew: changed: amended: improved: denoting the churches formed after the Reformation, esp. those in which the Calvinistic doctrines, and still more the Calvinistic polity, prevail, in contradistinction to the Lutheran.—ns. Refor′mer, one who reforms: one who advocates political reform: one of those who took part in the Reformation of the 16th century; Refor′mist, a reformer.—Reformed Presbyterians, a Presbyterian denomination originating in Scotland (see Cameronian); Reform school, a reformatory. [L. re-, again, formāre, to shape—forma, form.]