reformation

/ˌɹɛf.əˈmeɪ.ʃən//ˌɹɛf.əɹˈmeɪ.ʃən/

reformation noun: an improvement (or an intended improvement) in the existing form or condition of institutions or practices, etc.; intended to make a striking change for the better in social, political or religious affairs or in the conduct of persons or operation of organizations. Also the alternative form of re-formation.

Noun

reformation (countable and uncountable, plural reformations)

An improvement (or an intended improvement) in the existing form or condition of institutions or practices, etc.; intended to make a striking change for the better in social, political or religious affairs or in the conduct of persons or operation of organizations.
- […] olde men long nusled in corruption, scorning them that would seeke reformation […]a. 1587, Philippe Sidnei [i.e., Philip Sidney], “(please specify the folio)”, in [Fulke Greville; Matthew Gwinne; John Florio], editors, The Countesse of Pembrokes Arcadia [The New Arcadia], London...
- And like bright metal on a sullen ground,
  My reformation, glittering o'er my fault,
  Shall show more goodly, and attract more eyes
  Than that which hath no foil to set it off.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
Change or correction, by a court in equity, to a written instrument to conform to the original intention of the parties.
- All sorts of legal instruments may be reformed by equity, when the errors, which have been committed in the execution of them, are mutual mistakes or a mistake of one party combined with the fraud of the other. Thus, reformation has been decreed of all kinds of deeds of conveyance, including...1893, Christopher Gustavus Tiedeman, “Chapter XXIX”, in A Treatise on Equity Jurisprudence, §507 (footnotes omitted)

Proper noun capitalized: Reformation

the Reformation

(historical) The religious movement initiated in the 16th century against the Roman Catholic Church, leading to more than a century of internecine conflict that ended with a durable division between Protestantism and Roman Catholicism.
- Who or what is a Catholic? This Greek word has become one of the chief battlegrounds in western Latin Christianity […] How can the word describe all of these things and still have any meaning? I have written this book about the sixteenth-century Reformation in part to answer that question. The...2003, Diarmaid MacCulloch, The Reformation: A History, Penguin, →ISBN, page xviii-xix

Also used as

reformation is also the alternative form of re-formation.

reformation meaning in Nepali, Tagalog and Arabic

reformation in Nepali

सुधार

reformation in Tagalog

improvement in the condition of institutions: samulinyo

reformation in Arabic

improvement in the condition of institutions: إِصْلَاح ʔiṣlāḥ

Examples of reformation in a sentence

[…] satire lashes vice into reformation, and humour represents folly so as to render it ridiculous.1674 (date written), John Dryden, The State of Innocence, and Fall of Man: An Opera. […], London: […] T[homas] N[ewcomb] for Henry...
Thus, reformation has been decreed of all kinds of deeds of conveyance, including leases, mortgages, deeds of trust, marriage and family settlements.1893, Christopher Gustavus Tiedeman, “Chapter XXIX”, in A Treatise on Equity Jurisprudence, §507 (footnotes omitted):

Forms of reformation

plural	reformations

Plural of reformation: reformations

Origin of reformation

From Middle English reformacioun, reformation, from Middle French reformation and Latin refōrmātiō, refōrmātiōnis (“reform, change”), from refōrmō (“transform, reshape”), from re- + fōrmō (“shape, form”). By surface analysis, reform + -ation.

Originally a variant of Etymology 1. In later use also independently from re- + formation, after re-form.

Words formed from reformation

Phrases with reformation

Words that rhyme with reformation

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about reformation

What does reformation mean?: Reformation means an improvement (or an intended improvement) in the existing form or condition of institutions or practices, etc.; intended to make a striking change for the better in social, political or religious affairs or in the conduct of persons or operation of organizations.
What is reformation in Nepali?: Reformation in Nepali is सुधार. See Reformation meaning in Nepali.
How do you use reformation in a sentence?: […] satire lashes vice into reformation, and humour represents folly so as to render it ridiculous.
What part of speech is reformation?: Reformation can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce reformation?: Reformation is pronounced /ˌɹɛf.əˈmeɪ.ʃən/ (UK).
What is the plural of reformation?: The plural of reformation is reformations.

Words near reformation in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: reformation (page history and authors); Reformation (page history and authors); reformation (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-reformation.ogg, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Reformation.wav.

Cite this entry: “reformation.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/reformation. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.