refine

See also: refiné

English

Etymology

re- +‎ fine

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ɹɪˈfaɪn/
• Rhymes: -aɪn

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Hyphenation: re‧fine

Verb

refine (third-person singular simple present refines, present participle refining, simple past and past participle refined)

1. (transitive) To purify; reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from impurities.

   to refine gold

   to refine iron

   to refine wine

   to refine sugar

   • 2013 August 3, “Yesterday’s fuel”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8847:

     The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania. […] It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber. Other liquids produced in the refining process, too unstable or smoky for lamplight, were burned or dumped.

2. (intransitive) To become pure; to be cleared of impure matter.
3. (transitive) To purify of coarseness, vulgarity, inelegance, etc.; to polish.

   to refine someone's manners

   to refine a language

   a refined style

   to refine one's tastes

4. (transitive, intransitive) To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence.
   • 1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume I, chapter 9:

     My dear Harriet, you must not refine too much upon this charade.—You will betray your feelings improperly, if you are too conscious and too quick, and appear to affix more meaning, or even quite all the meaning which may be affixed to it.

5. (transitive) To make nice or subtle.

   to refine thought

   to refine someone's language

Derived terms

• rerefine
• refinable
• refinement
• refiner
• refinery

Translations

to reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from impurities; to free from dross or alloy

• Bulgarian: пречиствам (bg) (prečistvam)
• Catalan: refinar (ca)
• Czech: čistit (cs), vyčistit (cs), pročistit, rafinovat (cs)
• Danish: raffinere, rense
• Esperanto: rafini
• Finnish: jalostaa (fi), puhdistaa (fi)
• Galician: refinar
• Italian: raffinare (it), decontaminare (it), decantare (it)
• Maori: whakaparakore
• Portuguese: refinar (pt)
• Russian: очищать (ru) (očiščatʹ)
• Spanish: refinar (es)
• Swedish: raffinera (sv)
• Yiddish: אויסאיידלען (oyseydlen)

to purify from what is gross, coarse, vulgar, inelegant, low, and the like; to make elegant or excellent; to polish

• Azerbaijani: saflaşdırmaq
• Bulgarian: облагородявам (bg) (oblagorodjavam)
• Catalan: refinar (ca)
• Czech: kultivovat
• Danish: forbedre (da), forfine
• Finnish: kehittää (fi), jalostaa (fi)
• Italian: purificare (it), raffinare (it), ripulire (it), sgrossare (it), lucidare (it)
• Maori: whakamahine
• Portuguese: refinar (pt)
• Russian: облагораживать (ru) (oblagoraživatʹ)
• Spanish: perfeccionar (es)
• Swedish: raffinera (sv), förfina (sv)

to become pure; to be cleared of feculent matter

• Bulgarian: очиствам се (očistvam se)
• Catalan: refinar (ca)
• Finnish: jalostua
• Italian: decantare (it), purificare (it)
• Portuguese: purificar (pt)

to improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence

• Catalan: refinar (ca)
• Czech: vylepšovat
• Finnish: kehittää (fi), jalostaa (fi)
• German: verfeinern (de)
• Hebrew: (formally) השתבח (Hishtabe'ach)
• Italian: migliorare (it), rifinire (it)
• Russian: соверше́нствоваться (ru) (soveršénstvovatʹsja)

to affect nicety or subtlety in thought or language

• Catalan: refinar (ca)
• Finnish: jalostaa (fi), hioa (fi)
• Italian: raffinare (it), migliorare (it), impreziosire, purificare (it)
• Russian: детализировать (ru) (detalizirovatʹ), уточнять (ru) (utočnjatʹ)
• Swedish: raffinera (sv), förfina (sv)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} verfijnen (nl)
• French: ^{(please verify)} raffiner (fr), ^{(please verify)} affiner (fr), ^{(please verify)} perfectionner (fr)

Further reading

• “refine”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “refine”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Feiner, enfire, ferine, fineer

Portuguese

Verb

refine

1. inflection of refinar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Verb

refine

1. inflection of refinar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative