mend
pronunciation
How to pronounce mend in British English:
UK [mend]
How to pronounce mend in American English:
US [mend]
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- Noun:
- sewing or darning that repairs a worn or torn hole (especially in a garment)
- the act of putting something in working order again
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- Verb:
- restore by replacing a part or putting together what is torn or broken
- heal or recover
Word Origin
- mend
- mend: [12] Mend originated as a shortened form of amend [13] – or rather, of the Old French source of amend, which did not arrive in English until after mend. The Old French verb was amender, a descendant of Vulgar Latin *admendāre ‘remove faults, correct’. This in turn was an alteration of classical Latin ēmendāre (source of English emend [15]), a compound verb formed from the prefix exdenoting ‘removal’ and menda, mendum ‘fault, defect’. (Other Latin derivatives of mendum were mendīcus ‘injured’, which was used as a noun meaning ‘beggar’ – hence English mendicant [15]; and perhaps mendāx ‘speaking faultily’, hence ‘lying’, from which English gets mendacious [17].)=> amend, emend, mendicant
- mend (v.)
- c. 1200, "to repair," from a shortened form of Old French amender (see amend). Meaning "to put right, atone for, amend (one's life), repent" is from c. 1300; that of "to regain health" is from early 15c. Related: Mended; mending.
- mend (n.)
- early 14c., "recompense, reparation," from mend (v.). Meaning "act of mending; a repaired hole or rip in fabric" is from 1888. Phrase on the mend attested from 1802.
Antonym
Example
- 1. How do you mend a broken public-health system ?
- 2. The gains also reflect expectations that the economic environment world-wide is on the mend .
- 3. In japan mrs clinton had to mend a fence she broke herself .
- 4. The firm ignored repeated requests to mend its ways .
- 5. Can you really mend a broken heart ?