emendation

noun

Etymology: From Middle English emendatioun, from Latin ēmendātiō; equivalent to emend + -ation. Piecewise doublet of amendation.

1. The act of altering for the better, or correcting what is erroneous or faulty; correction; improvement.

   “‘Aye, aye,’ quoth she, and it will be observed that no emendation whatever is necessary to be made in these two initiative remarks, ‘Aye, aye! […]”

   “Then, less melodiously, dissenters of different sects issue a cantankerous emendation.”

2. Alteration by editorial criticism, as of a text so as to give a better reading; removal of errors or corruptions from a document.

   “The book might be improved by judicious emendations.”

   “After some deliberation I decided to publish this journal, with only such emendations and corrections as its hasty writing in camp necessitated.”

3. An intentional change in the spelling of a scientific name, which is usually not allowed.

   “The genus name Uramyia is an unjustified emendation of Uramya even though it uses a better transliteration of the Greek word μυῖα.”