Verb. In legal Spanish, enmendar has two meanings: 1. To correct, eliminate errors, eliminate defects. 2. To compensate or repair damages and losses. E.g.1.: Se ha avanzado mucho efectuando modificaciones en la práctica sin necesidad de enmendar el documento: Much has been achieved by changes in practice without the need for amendment. E.g.2: Llega un momento en el que ya no puede servirse a la justicia, cuando es muy tarde para enmendar daños cometidos o sufridos: here comes a time when justice can no longer be served When it is too late to right wrongs, committed or received.
The noun is el enmendamiento and the adjective enmendado/a or enmendable. Another noun is la enmienda, and we use it when referring to the amendment of the law.
By the way, remendar, with the same origin, means ‘to patch up’, usually used for clothes. The adjective is remendado/a/s. There is another adjective: remendón/a; it refers to the person, usually a tailor or cobbler who has the job of mending. It is a beautiful word, I learned it as a child when I was reading Tolstoj, El Zapatero Remendón: transalted into English as ‘Where love is, God is’. dc

La palabra del día: Enmendar

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