on the mend
on the mend
Meaning
- to improve in health after an illness
- to be restored to a previous, better condition
- if a relationship is on the mend then it is improving
Example Sentences
- After a long illness he is finally on the mend.
- After weeks of being in bed with the flu I am now on the mend.
- My leg has been hurting since I broke it last year. Luckily with the new exercises that I am doing it seems to be on the mend.
- Their friendship went through a tough time but it is on the mend now.
- Their marriage was in trouble for a while but they have been working on it. It seems that it is on the mend.
- Sir, don’t worry – your damaged car is on the mend.
Origin
The idiom uses the word “mend” in the sense of repair. When you mend a piece of clothing you are fixing something that is broken. In some sense the idiom relates something that is physically broken with something that might be figuratively broken. Like a relationship.
The idiom has been used in its current form, meaning “to regain health” since the early 1600s.
To repair a relationship that is in need of mending has only been in use since the 1800s.
Synonyms
- getting better
- on the road to recovery
- improving
- recovering
- recuperating
- getting your strength back
- convalescing
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