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# reformer

«reformer» in Mova's school dictionary: **a person who works to change something, such as laws…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a reformer, reformers; the Reformers — church history)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A reformer is a person who works to change something, such as laws, schools, prisons or society, to make it better and fairer. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/reformer/#m1)

2) (church) The Reformers were Christian leaders, such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, who wanted to change and renew the Church, leading to the Protestant churches. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/reformer/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In history lessons, reformers campaigned against slavery, child labour and cruel prisons; for example, Elizabeth Fry worked to improve prisons. In church history, the Reformation was started by the Reformers. In stories a reformer often faces opposition. Phrases: "social reformer", "prison reformer", "the Protestant Reformers".

### examples

- Elizabeth Fry was a prison reformer who helped women in jail. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/reformer/#x1)
- Lord Shaftesbury was a reformer who fought to stop children working in mines. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/reformer/#x2)
- (church) Martin Luther was one of the great Reformers. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/reformer/#x3)
- The new head teacher is a reformer who wants to change everything. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/reformer/#x4)
- Reformers campaigned for the vote for women. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/reformer/#x5)
- Many reformers were inspired by their Christian faith. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/reformer/#x6)

### note

Countable: a reformer, reformers. Verb: reform (to change for the better); noun: reform. "The Reformation" (capital R) is the time when the Protestant churches split from the Roman Catholic Church. Do not confuse "reform" (improve) with "re-form" (form again).

### In the corpora

- [Reformers translated the Bible from Latin into German, English and other languages so ordinary people could read it themselves.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/history/25-printing-the-renaissance-and-the-reformation/12/)
- [Reformers like Elizabeth Fry visited prisoners and showed that people could be helped to change.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/history/84-gaols-magistrates-and-old-punishments-from-the-stocks-to-the-children-act-of-1908/5/)
- [In the 1500s reformers such as Martin Luther protested against problems in the Catholic Church, and the Protestant churches grew from this Reformation.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/28-churches-of-the-english-speaking-world-i/2/)
- [In the 1500s reformers like Martin Luther protested against problems in the Catholic Church; this is the Reformation.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/28-churches-of-the-english-speaking-world-i/11/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «reformer» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/R/reformer/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.