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/rˌɛfərmˈeɪʃən/ Listen

noun

Reformation n.

The act of reforming, or the state of being reformed; change from worse to better; correction or amendment of life, manners, or of anything vicious or corrupt; as, the reformation of manners; reformation of the age; reformation of abuses. "Satire lashes vice into reformation."

Specifically (Eccl. Hist.), the important religious movement commenced by Luther early in the sixteenth century, which resulted in the formation of the various Protestant churches.

Synonyms: Reform; amendment; correction; rectification. Reformation, Reform. Reformation is a more thorough and comprehensive change than reform. It is applied to subjects that are more important, and results in changes which are more lasting. A reformation involves, and is followed by, many particular reforms. "The pagan converts mention this great reformation of those who had been the greatest sinners, with that sudden and surprising change which the Christian religion made in the lives of the most profligate." "A variety of schemes, founded in visionary and impracticable ideas of reform, were suddenly produced."

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Etymology of 'Reformation'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Reformation" Quotes from Famous Books

... scriptural subjects is a striking fact in face of the general character of Dutch art in the seventeenth century. The reformation in Holland seems to have helped towards the exclusion of art from the domain of religion; and the merely formal and superficial rendering of biblical stories by the classicists of the late sixteenth century may have also had much to account for the secular reaction of the succeeding period. ...

— Rembrandt, With a Complete List of His Etchings • Arthur Mayger Hind

... is pain, inflicted with the reasonable hope of preventing greater pain in future. In a family, where there are several children educated together, or in public schools, punishments may be inflicted with justice for the sake of example, but still the reformation and future good of the sufferer is always a principal object; and of this he should be made sensible. If our practice upon all occasions correspond with our theory, and if children really perceive, that we do not punish them to gratify our own spleen ...

— Practical Education, Volume I • Maria Edgeworth

... person under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial by juries impartially selected; these principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and the blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civil instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments ...

— Choice Specimens of American Literature, And Literary Reader - Being Selections from the Chief American Writers • Benj. N. Martin

... Scriptures daily," to "prove all things and hold fast that which is good," is the grand safeguard of religious truth and ecclesiastical purity. No new enterprise of Christian benevolence has ever been achieved, no reformation of established institutions or doctrines ever been accomplished in the church of Christ, without discussion and controversy either oral or written; because error when assailed by the truth, will always make more or less resistance. The life of the greatest ...

— American Lutheranism Vindicated; or, Examination of the Lutheran Symbols, on Certain Disputed Topics • Samuel Simon Schmucker

... and resulted in a duplication of duties which might well now be ended. This lack of system and economic coordination has attracted the attention of the head of that Department who has been giving his time for the last two years, with the aid of experts and by consulting his bureau chiefs, to its reformation. He has abolished four hundred places in the civil service without at all injuring its efficiency. Merely to illustrate the character of the reforms that are possible, I shall comment on some of the specific changes that are being made, or ought to ...

— Complete State of the Union Addresses from 1790 to the Present • Various

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