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reparation or compensation for a loss, damage, or injury of any kind; recompense.
Obsolete. improvement; recovery, as of health.
make amends, to compensate, as for an injury, loss, or insult:
I tried to make amends for the misunderstanding by sending her flowers.
to alter, modify, rephrase, or add to or subtract from (a motion, bill, constitution, etc.) by formal procedure:
Congress may amend the proposed tax bill.
to change for the better; improve:
to amend one’s ways.
Synonyms: ameliorate, better.
Antonyms: worsen.
to remove or correct faults in; rectify.
to grow or become better by reforming oneself:
He amends day by day.
Synonyms: improve, ameliorate.
Antonyms: worsen.
Contemporary Examples

In other words, Congress amends bill it passed a few years ago.
The House GOP’s Down-Low, Backhanded Endorsement of Obamacare Michael Tomasky April 6, 2014

Historical Examples

But then the sweet scenery of Glenbogie, and the colour of the moors, and the glorious heights of Ben Alchan, made some amends.
Ayala’s Angel Anthony Trollope

What riches, or honours, or pleasures, can make us amends for the loss of innocence?
Joseph Andrews Vol. 1 Henry Fielding

So she let me know what they cost, and to make her amends I gave her three guineas more than they cost her.
The Fortunate Mistress (Parts 1 and 2) Daniel Defoe

This she could not understand, for she had expected an apology as the very least amends he could make.
Polly of Lady Gay Cottage Emma C. Dowd

He despised himself, and nothing could make him amends for the self-complacency that he had lost.
Tales And Novels, Volume 2 (of 10) Maria Edgeworth

What amends could he make for the treachery of his little gunboat?
The Adventures of Piang the Moro Jungle Boy Florence Partello Stuart

Certain writers have made some amends by including in their arrangements a class termed Alteratives.
The Action of Medicines in the System Frederick William Headland

You will meet my abstinence by the only amends you can make to me.
Wisdom, Wit, and Pathos of Ouida Ouida

At the end he heard some words faltered: she wished it was in their power ‘to make any amends.’
A Dozen Ways Of Love Lily Dougall

noun
(functioning as sing) recompense or compensation given or gained for some injury, insult, etc: to make amends
verb (transitive)
to improve; change for the better
to remove faults from; correct
to alter or revise (legislation, a constitution, etc) by formal procedure
n.

early 14c., “restitution,” collective singular, from Old French amendes “fine, penalty,” plural of amende “reparation,” from amender “to amend” (see amend).
v.

early 13c., “to free from faults, rectify,” from Old French amender (12c.), from Latin emendare “to correct, free from fault,” from ex- “out” (see ex-) + menda “fault, blemish,” from PIE *mend- “physical defect, fault” (cf. Sanskrit minda “physical blemish,” Old Irish mennar “stain, blemish,” Welsh mann “sign, mark”).

Supplanted in senses of “repair, cure” by its shortened offspring mend (v.). Meaning “to add to legislation” (ostensibly to correct or improve it) is recorded from 1777. Related: Amended; amending.
see: make amends