the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
adj. causing improvement in or reducing the bad effects of an unfavorable condition.
WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
adj. tending to ameliorate
Word Usage
"Yet the very success that Bernanke and Paulson (and later, the Obama administration) seem to have had in ameliorating the crisis may, over time, carry unintended consequences."