refine definition | Dictionary.com

re⋅fine

[ri-fahyn]

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- + fine ¹

Related forms:

re⋅fin⋅a⋅ble, adjective

re⋅fin⋅er, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To refine

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re·fine (rĭ-fīn')

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.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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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.

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.

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : refine

Spanish: refinar,

German: raffinieren,

Japanese: 精製する

More Translations »

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.

Main Entry: re·fine
Pronunciation: ri-'fIn
Function: transitive verb
Inflected Forms: re·fined; re·fin·ing
: tofree (as sugar or oil) from impurities or unwanted material

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

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: .

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