melior

• IPA^(key): /meˈljor/

melior

1. (comparative degree of bon) better

From Proto-Italic *meljōs, from Proto-Indo-European *mélyōs, from *mel- (“strong, big”). Cognate with multus, Ancient Greek μάλα (mála), Latvian milns (“very much, a lot of”). Displaced bonior as the comparative of bonus.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈme.li.or/, [ˈmɛlʲiɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈme.li.or/, [ˈmɛːlior]

melior (neuter melius); third declension

1. comparative degree of bonus; better

Third-declension comparative adjective.

• meliōrō

• bonus
• optimus

• “melior”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “melior”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• melior in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to find one's circumstances altered for the better (the worse): meliore (deteriore) condicione esse, uti
    
  • my position is considerably improved; my prospects are brighter: res meae meliore loco, in meliore causa sunt
    
  • my position is considerably improved; my prospects are brighter: meliorem in statum redigor
    
  • to hope well of a person: bene, optime (meliora) sperare de aliquo (Nep. Milt. 1. 1)
    
  • to induce some one to take a brighter view of things: in meliorem spem, cogitationem aliquem inducere (Off. 2. 15. 53)
    
  • heaven forfend: di prohibeant, di meliora!
    
  • (ambiguous) he feels better: melius ei factum est
    
  • (ambiguous) to deserve well at some one's hands; to do a service to..: bene, praeclare (melius, optime) mereri de aliquo
    
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 370