Noun
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.
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.
The state of being improved; betterment; advance; also, that which is improved; as, the new edition is an improvement on the old.
Valuable additions or betterments, as buildings, clearings, drains, fences, etc., on premises.
A useful addition to, or modification of, a machine, manufacture, or composition.
Source: Webster's dictionaryHumanity may endure the loss of everything; all its possessions may be turned away without infringing its true dignity - all but the possibility of improvement. Johann Gottlieb Fichte
The progress of society is mainly the improvement in the condition of the workingmen of the world. Rutherford B. Hayes
Ideas improve. The meaning of words participates in the improvement. Plagiarism is necessary. Progress implies it. It embraces an author's phrase, makes use of his expressions, erases a false idea, and replaces it with the right idea. Guy Debord
Improvement makes strait roads, but the crooked roads without Improvement, are roads of Genius. William Blake
Ethical religion can be real only to those who are engaged in ceaseless efforts at moral improvement. By moving upward we acquire faith in an upward movement, without limit. Felix Adler
However novel it may appear, I shall venture the assertion, that, until women assume the place in society which good sense and good feeling alike assign to them, human improvement must advance but feebly. Frances Wright