1. improving of something: the act of saving something or somebody from a declined, dilapidated, or corrupted state and restoring it, him, or her to a better condition The house was a wreck, and the garden seemed entirely beyond redemption.
2. redeemed state: the improved state of somebody or something saved from apparently irreversible decline
3. atonement for human sin: deliverance from the sins of humanity by the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross
4. buying back of something: the buying back of something given, e.g. to a pawnbroker, as security for a loan
5. ending of financial obligation: the removal of a financial obligation, e.g. the repayment of a loan or promissory note
[14th century. Via French< Latin redemption-< past participle of redimere (see redeem)]