\Ref`or*ma"tion\ (r?f`?r*m?"sh?n), n. [F.
r['e]formation, L. reformatio.]
1. The act of reforming, or the state of being reformed;
   change from worse to better; correction or amendment of
   life, manners, or of anything vicious or corrupt; as, the
   reformation of manners; reformation of the age;
   reformation of abuses.
         Satire lashes vice into reformation.  --Dryden.
2. Specifically (Eccl. Hist.), the important religious
   movement commenced by Luther early in the sixteenth
   century, which resulted in the formation of the various
   Protestant churches.
Syn: Reform; amendment; correction; rectification.
Usage: {Reformation}, {Reform}. Reformation is a more
       thorough and comprehensive change than reform. It is
       applied to subjects that are more important, and
       results in changes which are more lasting. A
       reformation involves, and is followed by, many
       particular reforms. ``The pagan converts mention this
       great reformation of those who had been the greatest
       sinners, with that sudden and surprising change which
       the Christian religion made in the lives of the most
       profligate.'' --Addison. ``A variety of schemes,
       founded in visionary and impracticable ideas of
       reform, were suddenly produced.'' --Pitt.