amendment

noun amend·ment \ ə-ˈmen(d)-mənt \

|Updated on: 21 Jul 2018

Editor's Note: What is a constitutional amendment?

Definition of amendment

1 a : the process of altering or amending a law or document (such as a constitution) by parliamentary or constitutional procedure

rights that were granted by amendment of the Constitution

b : an alteration proposed or effected by this process

a constitutional amendment

2 : the act of amending something : correction

3 : a material (such as compost or sand) that aids plant growth indirectly by improving the condition of the soil

soil amendments

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Recent Examples of amendment from the Web

Poor draining soils can be made worse when lots of organic amendments are added to the backfill soil.

— ellen nibali, baltimoresun.com, "Garden Q&A: Be wary of the 'bathtub effect'," 12 July 2018
Opponents of the schools amendment resorted to the courts, of course, and won.

— Longreads, "Oregon’s Racist Past," 12 July 2018
Some of the information that came out that spoke to threats to smaller markets, again not even a part of the amendment.

— joshua fechter, San Antonio Express-News, "San Antonio aviation director talks travel ban, airport construction and flying the F-22," 9 July 2018
The more rigorous net neutrality provisions will be reinstated through a series of amendments in the next few weeks.

— makena kelly, The Verge, "A revamped California net neutrality bill is moving forward again," 5 July 2018
In 2012, Murkowski voted in favor of an amendment by Sen. Roy Blunt R-Mo. that would allow health insurance providers to decide not to cover the cost of contraceptives based on religious objections.

— erica martinson, Anchorage Daily News, "Supreme Court vacancy puts Murkowski in the middle, again," 29 June 2018
Perhaps unintended consequence of this amendment is that unaccompanied minors have flooded the area, a lot of them brought by coyote smugglers into the country.

— Fox News, "Rep. McCaul on chances Congress can solve immigration crisis," 24 June 2018
Last April, a slim majority approved the package of constitutional amendments that transformed Turkey, which has been governed by a multiparty parliamentary system since 1950, into a presidential system.

— umar farooq, latimes.com, "Could Turkey's president be in trouble? He faces a stiff challenge in Sunday's election," 23 June 2018
But a series of amendments early in the 20th century, especially the Hepburn Act of 1906 — when both Congress and the White House were firmly in Republican hands — changed that.

— john steele gordon, BostonGlobe.com, "When the GOP fought against monopolies," 14 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'amendment.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

What is a constitutional amendment?

An amendment is essentially a correction. It comes in many varieties, up to and including the process of altering something through either parliamentary or constitutional procedure. In the United States, the word is often used specifically of a change to the U.S. Constitution. A constitutional amendment may be proposed by Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives or through a constitutional convention with majority votes in two-thirds of state legislatures. Once it is ratified by Congress, it must be approved by three-fourths (i.e., 38 of 50) of the states.