reform
verb/rɪˈfɔːm/
/rɪˈfɔːrm/
Verb Forms
| present simple I / you / we / they reform | /rɪˈfɔːm/ /rɪˈfɔːrm/ |
| he / she / it reforms | /rɪˈfɔːmz/ /rɪˈfɔːrmz/ |
| past simple reformed | /rɪˈfɔːmd/ /rɪˈfɔːrmd/ |
| past participle reformed | /rɪˈfɔːmd/ /rɪˈfɔːrmd/ |
| -ing form reforming | /rɪˈfɔːmɪŋ/ /rɪˈfɔːrmɪŋ/ |
- [transitive] reform something to improve a system, an organization, a law, etc. by making changes to it
- proposals to reform the social security system
- The law needs to be reformed.
- a reforming administration
Extra ExamplesTopics Politicsc1- The education system must be radically reformed.
- the near impossibility of truly reforming the system
- There are proposals to reform the welfare system.
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadverb- drastically
- fundamentally
- radically
- …
- attempt to
- push to
- seek to
- …
- attempts to reform something
- efforts to reform something
- proposals to reform something
- …
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- [intransitive, transitive] to improve your behaviour; to make somebody do this
- He has promised to reform.
- reform somebody She thought she could reform him.
Word OriginMiddle English (as a verb in the senses ‘restore (peace)’ and ‘bring back to the original condition’): from Old French reformer or Latin reformare, from re- ‘back’ + formare ‘to form, shape’. The noun dates from the mid 17th cent.
Check pronunciation:
reform