Reform

How to spell reform

6 letters · 2 syllables

How to pronounce reform

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does reform mean?

1. verbTo make changes to something, especially an institution or practice, in order to improve it; or to improve one's own behaviour.
2. nounA change made to an institution, law, or practice to correct faults and improve it.

Reform in a sentence

• verb

  The new minister promised to reform the tax system.

• noun

  The report called for urgent reform of the health service.

• verb

  The prison aims to reform offenders rather than simply punish them.

• noun

  Electoral reform has been debated for decades.

Where does reform come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin reformare, which combined re-, meaning 'again', with formare, meaning 'to shape or fashion', itself from forma, the Latin word for a shape, mould, or pattern. The literal sense was therefore 'to shape anew' or 'to restore to a better form'. English took the word in during the 1300s, by way of Old French reformer, and it carried both the physical idea of reshaping something and the moral idea of improving conduct or institutions. Over the following centuries the institutional sense came to dominate, so that reform now most often describes correcting abuses in government, law, or society. The spelling stays usefully transparent: it is simply the familiar word 'form' with the prefix 're-' attached, with no doubled letters or silent traps to catch the writer.

How the word is built

• re- (again)
• form (shape, from Latin forma)