Reform /(r?*f?rm")/

Re·form

Reform

v. t.
  1. To put into a new and improved form or condition; to restore to a former good state, or bring from bad to good; to change from worse to better; to amend; to correct; as, to reform a profligate man; to reform corrupt manners or morals.
    The example alone of a vicious prince will corrupt an age; but that of a good one will not reform it.

Reform

v. i.
  1. To return to a good state; to amend or correct one's own character or habits; as, a man of settled habits of vice will seldom reform.

Reform

n.
  1. Amendment of what is defective, vicious, corrupt, or depraved; reformation; as, reform of elections; reform of government.

Phrases & Compounds
Civil service reform
See under Civil.
Reform acts
acts of Parliament passed in 1832, 1867, 1884, 1885, extending and equalizing popular representation in Parliament.
Reform school
a school established by a state or city government, for the confinement, instruction, and reformation of juvenile offenders, and of young persons of idle, vicious, and vagrant habits.