improvement

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)The act of improving; advancement or growth; a bettering

   “November 9, 1662, Robert South, Of the Creation of Man in the Image of God I look upon your city as […] the best place of improvement.”

   “Exercise is the chief source of improvement in all our faculties.”

   “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.”

   “Private-equity nabobs bristle at being dubbed mere financiers.[…]Much of their pleading is public-relations bluster. Clever financial ploys are what have made billionaires of the industry’s veterans. “Operational improvement” in a portfolio company has often meant little more than promising colossal bonuses to sitting chief executives if they meet ambitious growth targets. That model is still prevalent today.”

2. (countable, uncountable)The act of making profitable use or application of anything, or the state of being profitably employed; practical application, for example of a doctrine, principle, or theory, stated in a discourse.

   “good improvement of his reason.”

   “I shall make some improvement of this doctrine.”

3. (countable, uncountable)The state of being improved; betterment; advance
4. (countable, uncountable)Something which is improved

   “the new edition is an improvement on the old.”

   “The decade has seen vast improvements in techniques.”

   “The parts of Sinon, Camilla, and some few others, are improvements on the Greek poet.”

   “Here 12...B-B3 as in Fischer-Geller is quite necessary. Black intended an improvement on this variation but received bad advice on his pre-analysis.”

5. (countable, uncountable)Increase; growth; progress; advance.

   “Those vices which more particularly receive improvement by prosperity.”

6. (countable, in-plural, uncountable)Valuable additions or betterments, for example buildings, clearings, drains, fences, etc., on premises.
7. (countable, uncountable)A useful addition to, or modification of, a machine, manufacture, or composition.