correction

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kəˈrek.ʃən/^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English correccioun, borrowed from Middle French correction or Old French correccion (“correction, amendment, punishment”),^[2][3][4] from Latin correctiō (“an amendment, improvement”), from the past participle of corrigō (“to make straight, reform”) (see correct).^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The correcting of a person for faults of character or conduct: before 1340 in the OED.^[5] Etymonline's first sense, in the mid-14th century, is authority to correct.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Setting right, putting the right thing in place of the wrong, is from 1340,^[5] and correcting by punishment from about 1386.^[5] Under correction, a formula of deference, is from about 1374.^[5] An instance of correction, or what is put in place of an error, is from 1528 in the OED, the 1520s in Etymonline.^[5][2] A house of correction for minor offenders appears in an English statute of 1575.^[5][2] Two senses, control and governance (1657) and correcting control (1465), are obsolete.^[5]

Timeline

• before 1340 – correcting a person's faults.^[5]
• c. 1374 – under correction.^[5]
• c. 1386 – chastisement.^[5]
• 1528 – a correction, an emendation.^[5]
• 1575–6 – house of correction.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. The act or process of correcting.
2. Something offered in place of an error; an amendment.
3. Punishment meant to reform; the treatment of offenders through prison, probation and similar measures.
4. A quantity added to or subtracted from a calculation or observation to make it more accurate.

Word family

• correctional
• noncorrection
• overcorrection
• precorrection
• correction fluid
• house of correction

Related words

• correct
• rectify
• direct

References

1. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press