Refine definition |Dictionary.com

Browse Nearby Entries

Refigure

refine

Sponsored Links Vinyl Cutters for $269.99
We offer better Quality, Selection, Service, and Value than Anyone!
USCutterDirect.com

Oil CDs
Large selection of Oil CDs in stock at discount prices!
www.cdconnection.com

8 dictionary results for: Refine

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

re·fine

[ri-fahyn] Pronunciation Key verb, -fined, -fin·ing.

–verb (used with object)

1.	to bring to a fine or a pure state; free from impurities: to refine metal, sugar, or petroleum.

2.	to purify from what is coarse, vulgar, or debasing; make elegant or cultured.

3.	to bring to a finer state or form by purifying.

4.	to make more fine, subtle, or precise: to refine one's writing style.

–verb (used without object)

5.	to become pure.

6.	to become more fine, elegant, or polished.

7.	to make fine distinctions in thought or language.

—Verb phrase

8.	refine on or upon, to improve by inserting finer distinctions, superior elements, etc.: to refine on one's previous work.

[Origin: 1575–85; re- + fine¹

]

—Related forms

re·fin·a·ble, adjective

re·fin·er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT

Sponsored Links Vinyl Cutters for $269.99
We offer better Quality, Selection, Service, and Value than Anyone!
USCutterDirect.com

Oil CDs
Large selection of Oil CDs in stock at discount prices!
www.cdconnection.com

American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

re·fine   (rĭ-fīn') Pronunciation Key
v.   re·fined, re·fin·ing, re·fines

v.   tr.

To reduce to a pure state; purify.
To remove by purifying.
To free from coarse, unsuitable, or immoral characteristics: refined his manners; refined her speaking style.

v. intr.

To become free of impurities.
To acquire polish or elegance.
To use precise distinctions and subtlety in thought or speech.

re·fin'er n.

(Download Now or Buy the Book)
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT

Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
refine

1582, of metals, 1588 of manners, from re-, intensive prefix + obs. fine (v.) "make fine," from fine (adj.) "delicate" (q.v.). Cf. Fr. raffiner, It. raffinare, Sp. refinar. General and fig. sense is recorded from 1596; of sugar, from 1613. Refinery in various senses is first recorded 1727. Refinement "act or process of refining" is from 1611; meaning "fineness of feeling" is from 1708.

CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

refine
verb
1.	improve or perfect by pruning or polishing; "refine one's style of writing" [syn: polish]
2.	make more complex, intricate, or richer; "refine a design or pattern" [syn: complicate]
3.	treat or prepare so as to put in a usable condition; "refine paper stock"; "refine pig iron"; "refine oil"
4.	reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; separate from extraneous matter or cleanse from impurities; "refine sugar"
5.	attenuate or reduce in vigor, strength, or validity by polishing or purifying; "many valuable nutrients are refined out of the foods in our modern diet"
6.	make more precise or increase the discriminatory powers of; "refine a method of analysis"; "refine the constant in the equation"

CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT

American Heritage Stedman's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

refine re·fine (rĭ-fīn')
v. re·fined, re·fin·ing, re·fines
To reduce to a pure state; purify.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT

Free On-line Dictionary of Computing - Cite This Source - Share This

REFINE
1. "Research on Knowledge-Based Software Environments at Kestrel Institute", D.R. Smith et al, IEEE Trans Soft Eng, SE-11(11) (1985). E-mail: .
2. Cordell Green et al, Stanford U. Uses logic to specify and evolve programs. [same as 1?] Reasoning Systems, Inc. E-mail: .

CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Refine

Re*fine"\ (r?*f?n"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Refined (-find"); p. pr. & vb. n. Refining.] [Pref. re- + fine to make fine: cf. F. raffiner.]

1. To reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from impurities; to free from dross or alloy; to separate from extraneous matter; to purify; to defecate; as, to refine gold or silver; to refine iron; to refine wine or sugar.

I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined. --Zech. xiii. 9.

2. To purify from what is gross, coarse, vulgar, inelegant, low, and the like; to make elegant or exellent; to polish; as, to refine the manners, the language, the style, the taste, the intellect, or the moral feelings.

Love refines The thoughts, and heart enlarges. --Milton.

Syn: To purify; clarify; polish; ennoble.

CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Refine

Re*fine"\, v. i. 1. To become pure; to be cleared of feculent matter.

So the pure, limpid stream, when foul with stains, Works itself clear, and, as it runs, refines. --Addison.

2. To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence.

Chaucer refined on Boccace, and mended his stories. --Dryden.

But let a lord once own the happy lines, How the wit brightens! How the style refines! --Pope.

3. To affect nicety or subtilty in thought or language. "He makes another paragraph about our refining in controversy." --Atterbury.

CITE THIS SOURCE|PRINT