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1. Improvement (or an intended improvement) in the existing form or condition of institutions or practices etc.; intended to make a striking change for the better in social or political or religious affairs
    
2. Rescuing from error and returning to a rightful course
   "the reformation of delinquent children";
   - reclamation
    
3. (chemistry) conversion of one compound into another desired product via an industrial process, esp. producing smaller molecules or atoms (e.g. hydrogen from methane)

1. Forming again (especially with improvements or removal of defects); renewing and reconstituting
   - regeneration

1. A religious movement of the 16th century that began as an attempt to reform the Roman Catholic Church and resulted in the creation of Protestant churches
   - Protestant Reformation

Derived forms: reformations

Type of: deliverance, delivery, improvement, melioration, reconstruction, religious movement, rescue, saving

Encyclopedia: Reformation, Protestant