different between improve vs polish

English

Alternative forms

• emprove (obsolete)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman emprouwer, from Old French en- + prou (“profit”), from Vulgar Latin prode (“advantageous, profitable”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?p?u?v/
• Rhymes: -u?v

Verb

improve (third-person singular simple present improves, present participle improving, simple past and past participle improved)

1. (transitive) To make (something) better; to increase the value or productivity (of something).
2. (intransitive) To become better.

   • “My Continental prominence is improving,” I commented dryly. ¶ Von Lindowe cut at a furze bush with his silver-mounted rattan. ¶ “Quite so,” he said as dryly, his hand at his mustache. “I may say if your intentions were known your life would not be worth a curse.”

3. (obsolete) To disprove or make void; to refute.
   • 1528, William Tyndale, The Obedience of a Christian Man

     Neither can any of them make so strong a reason which another cannot improve.

4. (obsolete) To disapprove of; to find fault with; to reprove; to censure.
   • 1528, William Tyndale, The Obedience of a Christian Man

     When he rehearsed his preachings and his doing unto the high apostles, they could improve nothing.

5. (dated) To use or employ to good purpose; to turn to profitable account.
   • a. 1677, Isaac Barrow, The Reward of Honouring God (sermon)

     We shall especially honour God, by discharging faithfully those offices which God hath entrusted us with: by improving diligently those talents which God hath committed to us

   • a hint that I do not remember to have seen opened and improved

   • the court has also an opportunity, which it seldom fails to improve.

   • 1715, Isaac Watts, Against Idleness and Mischief

     How doth the little busy bee / Improve each shining hour.

   • March 7, 1778, George Washington, letter

     True policy, as well as good faith, in my opinion, binds us to improve the occasion.

Synonyms

• (to make something better): ameliorate, better, batten, enhance; See also Thesaurus:improve

Antonyms

• (to make something worse): deteriorate, worsen; See also Thesaurus:aggravate
• (to become worse): deteriorate, worsen; See also Thesaurus:worsen

Derived terms

• improvement
• improver
• improving

Translations

Further reading

• "improve" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 160.

English

Etymology

From Middle English polishen, from Old French poliss-, stem of some of the conjugated forms of polir, from Latin pol?re (“to polish, make smooth”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) enPR: p?'l?sh, IPA^(key): /?p?l??/
• (US) enPR: pä'l?sh, IPA^(key): /?p?l??/

Noun

polish (countable and uncountable, plural polishes)

1. A substance used to polish.

2. Cleanliness; smoothness, shininess.

3. Refinement; cleanliness in performance or presentation.

Synonyms

• (substance): wax
• (smoothness, shininess): finish, sheen, shine, shininess, smoothness
• (cleanliness in performance or presentation): class, elegance, panache, refinement, style

Derived terms

• depolish
• expolish
• repolish

Related terms

• polissoir

Translations

See also

• apple-polish
• French polish
• furniture polish
• glacial polish
• nail polish
• polish remover
• shoe polish
• spit and polish
• stove polish
• varnish polish

Verb

polish (third-person singular simple present polishes, present participle polishing, simple past and past participle polished)

1. (transitive) To shine; to make a surface very smooth or shiny by rubbing, cleaning, or grinding.

3. (transitive) To refine; remove imperfections from.
   • 1699, William Temple, Heads designed for an essay on conversations

     Study gives strength to the mind; conversation, grace: the first apt to give stiffness, the other suppleness: one gives substance and form to the statue, the other polishes it.

4. (transitive) To apply shoe polish to shoes.
5. (intransitive) To become smooth, as from friction; to receive a gloss; to take a smooth and glossy surface.
   • a. 1626, Francis Bacon, Inquisitions touching the compounding of metals

     The other [gold], whether it will polish so well Wherein for the latter [brass] it is probable it will

6. (transitive) To refine; to wear off the rudeness, coarseness, or rusticity of; to make elegant and polite.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)

Synonyms

• (to make smooth and shiny by rubbing): wax, shine, buff, furbish, burnish, smooth, bone
• (refine): hone, perfect, refine

Derived terms

• polishable
• polished
• polisher
• polishing
• polishment
• polishure
• repolish
• unpolish

Related terms

• polite

Translations

See also

• interpolish
• polish off
• polish up, polish up on

Further reading

• polish in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• polish in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• polish at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• Hislop, philos