Augmentation in Computer Science

Augmentation means the same thing in computer science as it does in general English, which I would summarise as: extending something to make it better.

Oxford Dictionaries Online gives this definition for the verb augment:

Pronunciation: /ɔːgˈmɛnt/

• make (something) greater by adding to it; increase

There are some particular uses of augment which have become terms in their own right and imply a more specific meaning based on the general one; for example, augmented reality, augmenting path, graph augmentation, augmented data structure.

In the context of a particular sub-field (for example, graph theory) or even a particular algorithm, the term augmentation may take on a more specialised and well-defined meaning, but in computer science as a whole, the meaning of augmentation is not specialised.