'And now for our cry,' said Mr. Taper. ... 'Ancient institutions and modern improvements, I suppose, Mr. Tadpole?' 'Ameliorations is the better word, ameliorations. Nobody knows exactly what it means.'
A semantic change toward a more positive connotation in the meaning of a word or morpheme; for example, the English word nice, which meant "foolish" in Middle English, now means kind or pleasant.
Disraeli, Coningsby, with a couple of political fixers selecting an electoral slogan:
'And now for our cry,' said Mr. Taper. ... 'Ancient institutions and modern improvements, I suppose, Mr. Tadpole?'
'Ameliorations is the better word, ameliorations. Nobody knows exactly what it means.'
A semantic change toward a more positive connotation in the meaning of a word or morpheme; for example, the English word nice, which meant "foolish" in Middle English, now means kind or pleasant.
antonym: "pejoration"