correction

/kəˈrɛkʃən/

/kəˈrɛkʃɛn/

Other forms: corrections

When you fix a mistake, you make a correction, a change that rights a wrong. When you correct a misspelled word, you’ve made a correction. Well done! Correction also applies to punishment, which is another way to right a wrong.

A correction is an improvement or a revision when there's something that needs to be fixed. Newspapers issue corrections for previously printed errors, and a poorly written law might get the correction it needs after voters choose to amend it. Sometimes correction is also used to mean "punishment or discipline," and a correction or correctional facility is another word for jail. Correction can also mean "a drop in the value of a stock that was artificially high."

Definitions of correction

1. noun

   the act of offering an improvement to replace a mistake; setting right
   synonyms: rectification

   types:

   redress, remediation, remedy

   act of correcting an error or a fault or an evil

   retribution

   the act of correcting for your wrongdoing

   compensation, recompense

   the act of compensating for service, loss, or injury

   amendment

   the act of amending or correcting

   emendation

   a correction by emending; a correction resulting from critical editing

   salve

   anything that remedies or heals or soothes

   indemnification

   an act of compensation for actual loss or damage or for trouble and annoyance

   type of:

   improvement

   the act of improving something
2. noun

   a quantity that is added or subtracted in order to increase the accuracy of a scientific measure
   synonyms: fudge factor

   type of:

   indefinite quantity

   an estimated quantity
3. noun

   something substituted for an error
   types:

   erasure

   a correction made by erasing

   type of:

   editing, redaction

   putting something (as a literary work or a legislative bill) into acceptable form
4. noun

   treatment of a specific defect
   “the correction of his vision with eye glasses”

   types:

   fusion, spinal fusion

   correction of an unstable part of the spine by joining two or more vertebrae; usually done surgically but sometimes done by traction or immobilization

   type of:

   therapy

   (medicine) the act of caring for someone (as by medication or remedial training etc.)
5. noun

   the act of punishing
   synonyms: discipline

   types:

   spanking

   the act of slapping on the buttocks

   type of:

   penalisation, penalization, penalty, punishment, sanction

   the act of punishing
6. noun

   a rebuke for making a mistake
   synonyms: chastening, chastisement

   type of:

   rebuke, reprehension, reprimand, reproof, reproval

   an act or expression of criticism and censure
7. noun

   a drop in stock market activity or stock prices following a period of increases
   “market runups are invariably followed by a correction”

   type of:

   dip, drop, fall, free fall

   a sudden sharp decrease in some quantity