*improvement*

n. 1. The act of improving; advancement or growth; promotion in desirable qualities; progress toward what is better; melioration; as, the improvement of the mind, of land, roads, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

I look upon your city as the best place of improvement. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

Exercise is the chief source of improvement in all our faculties. Blair. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of making profitable use or applicaton of anything, or the state of being profitably employed; a turning to good account; practical application, as of a doctrine, principle, or theory, stated in a discourse. “A good improvement of his reason.” S. Clarke. [ 1913 Webster ]

I shall make some improvement of this doctrine. Tillotson. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The state of being improved; betterment; advance; also, that which is improved; as, the new edition is an improvement on the old. [ 1913 Webster ]

The parts of Sinon, Camilla, and some few others, are improvements on the Greek poet. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Increase; growth; progress; advance. [ 1913 Webster ]

There is a design of publishing the history of architecture, with its several improvements and decays. Addison. [ 1913 Webster ]

Those vices which more particularly receive improvement by prosperity. South. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. pl. Valuable additions or betterments, as buildings, clearings, drains, fences, etc., on land or premises; as, to convey the land together with all improvements. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Patent Laws) A useful addition to, or modification of, a machine, manufacture, or composition. Kent. [ 1913 Webster ]