corrgere

Corrigere is a Latin verb meaning to correct, to set right, or to amend. It is a member of the third conjugation and is used in both literal and figurative senses, including editing texts, repairing mistakes, or rectifying conduct. In classical usage it appears in scholastic, legal, rhetorical, and literary contexts.

The standard dictionary form is corrigo, corrigere, correxi, correctum. The four principal parts are used to derive all other forms: present active indicative corrigo, corrigis, corrigit, corrigimus, corrigitis, corrigunt; imperfect corribam or corrigēbam (depending on system), perfect correxi, present passive participle correctus, among other forms. The verb governs direct objects for what is being corrected (for example, errores “errors”) and often appears with adjectives or prepositional phrases indicating what is being set right.

In usage, corrigere covers correcting mistakes in text, improving accuracy, refashioning arguments, or morally correcting behavior. In historical Latin, it can also imply making something right by reform or amendment, sometimes in a rhetorical or exhortative sense. The verb is productive in Latin prose and poetry and remains a standard reference point for metaphorical “correction” or “rectification.”

Cognates in Romance languages reflect the same sense: Italian correggere, Spanish corregir, Portuguese corrigir, and French corriger all descend from Latin corrigere. These descendants show how the core idea of making something right has traveled from Latin into modern languages.

See also: correggere (Italian), corregir (Spanish), corriger (French).