reform
/ˌɹiːˈfɔɹm/ verb C2- To put into a new and improved form or condition; to restore to a former good state, or bring from bad to good; to change from worse to better. · to reform a profligate man; to reform corrupt manners or morals; to reform a criminal
- To return to a good state; to amend or correct one's own character or habits. · It is hoped that many criminals, upon being freed, will eventually reform.
- To form again or in a new configuration. · This product contains reformed meat.· The regiment reformed after surviving the first attack.
He/she/it reforms · Past reformed · Past participle reformed · -ing form reforming
Verb forms
- Base form
- reform
- He/she/it
- reforms
- Past
- reformed
- Past participle
- reformed
- -ing form
- reforming
From the library
Diana hasn’t quite made up her mind though, because she thinks perhaps it would be nobler to marry some wild, dashing, wicked young man and reform him.
Phillips was seized with one of his spasmodic fits of reform and announced before going home to dinner, that he should expect to find all the scholars in their seats when he returned.
Phillips’s brief reforming energy was over; he didn’t want the bother of punishing a dozen pupils; but it was necessary to do something to save his word, so he looked about for a scapegoat and found it in Anne, who had dropped into her seat, gasping for breath, with a forgotten lily wreath hanging askew over one ear and giving her a particularly rakish and disheveled appearance.
“And do you undertake to reform it?”
Other matches
Learn reform in real texts
With a free account, hover any word in the library for its meaning, hear it read aloud, save words for review timed to your memory, and see how much of each book you already know.