different between return vs improvement

English

Alternative forms

• returne (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English returnen, retornen, from Anglo-Norman returner, from Old French retourner, retorner, from Medieval Latin retornare (“to turn back”), from re- + tornare (“to turn”). Compare beturn.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???t??n/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /???t?n/
• Rhymes: -??(?)n
• Hyphenation: re?turn

Verb

return (third-person singular simple present returns, present participle returning, simple past and past participle returned)

1. (intransitive) To come or go back (to a place or person).
2. (intransitive) To go back in thought, narration, or argument.

3. (intransitive) To recur; to come again.

4. (intransitive, obsolete) To turn back, retreat.

   • ‘I suppose here is none woll be glad to returne – and as for me,’ seyde Sir Cador, ‘I had lever dye this day that onys to turne my bak.’

5. (transitive, obsolete) To turn (something) round.

   • Whan Kyng Marke harde hym sey that worde, he returned his horse and abode by hym.

6. (transitive) To place or put back something where it had been.

7. (transitive) To give something back to its original holder or owner.

8. (transitive) To take back something to a vendor for a refund.

9. To give in requital or recompense; to requite.
10. (tennis) To bat the ball back over the net in response to a serve.

11. (card games) To play a card as a result of another player's lead.

12. (cricket) To throw a ball back to the wicket-keeper (or a fielder at that position) from somewhere in the field.
13. (transitive) To say in reply; to respond.
14. (intransitive, computing) To relinquish control to the calling procedure.
15. (transitive, computing) To pass (data) back to the calling procedure.

16. (transitive, dated) To retort; to throw back.
17. (transitive) To report, or bring back and make known.

    to return the result of an election
18. (Britain, by extension) To elect according to the official report of the election officers.

Related terms

Translations

Noun

return (plural returns)

1. The act of returning.
2. A return ticket.

3. An item that is returned, e.g. due to a defect, or the act of returning it.

4. An answer.

5. An account, or formal report, of an action performed, of a duty discharged, of facts or statistics, etc.; especially, in the plural, a set of tabulated statistics prepared for general information.

6. Gain or loss from an investment.
   • 1650, Jeremy Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living

     from the few hours we spend in prayer and the exercises of a pious life , the return is great and profitable
7. (taxation, finance) A report of income submitted to a government for purposes of specifying exact tax payment amounts. A tax return.

8. (computing) A carriage return character.
9. (computing) The act of relinquishing control to the calling procedure.
10. (computing) A return value: the data passed back from a called procedure.
11. A return pipe, returning fluid to a boiler or other central plant (compare with flow pipe, which carries liquid away from central plant).

12. A short perpendicular extension of a desk, usually slightly lower.
13. (American football) Catching a ball after a punt and running it back towards the opposing team.
14. (cricket) A throw from a fielder to the wicket-keeper or to another fielder at the wicket.
15. (architecture) The continuation in a different direction, most often at a right angle, of a building, face of a building, or any member, such as a moulding; applied to the shorter in contradistinction to the longer.

Synonyms

• (the act of returning): gaincoming

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

• Turner, turner

English

Alternative forms

• emprovement (obsolete)

Etymology

From Anglo-Norman emprouwement; synchronically improve +? -ment.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?m?p?u?vm?nt/
• Hyphenation: im?prove?ment

Noun

improvement (countable and uncountable, plural improvements)

1. 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.

   • 1783, Hugh Blair, Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres

     Exercise is the chief source of improvement in all our faculties.
2. 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.
   • 1705, Samuel Clarke, Evidences of Natural and Revealed Religion

     good improvement of his reason.

   • 1681, John Tillotson, A sermon preached at the funeral of the Reverend Mr Thomas Gouge

     I shall make some improvement of this doctrine.

3. The state of being improved; betterment; advance
4. Something which is improved

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

5. Increase; growth; progress; advance.

   • Those vices which more particularly receive improvement by prosperity.

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

Synonyms

• improval, amelioration

Antonyms

• worsening
• deterioration
• disimprovement

Hyponyms

• self-improvement

Derived terms

• disimprovement

See also

• uplift

Translations

References

improvement in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Italian

Etymology

Borrowed from English improvement.

Noun

improvement m (invariable)

1. (rare) improvement

   Synonyms: miglioramento, perfezionamento