Adjacent Words

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

REFI'NE, v.t.
1. To purify; in a general sense; applied to liquors, to depurate; to defecate; to clarify; to separate, as liquor, from all extraneous matter. In this sense, the verb is used with propriety, but it is customary to use fine.
2. Applied to metals, to separate the metallic substance from all other matter, whether another metal or alloy, or any earthy substance; in short, to detach the pure metal from all extraneous matter.
I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined. Zechariah 13.
3. To purify, as manners, from what is gross, clownish or vulgar; to polish; to make elegant. We expect to see refined manners in courts.
4. To purify, as language, by removing vulgar words and barbarisms.
5. To purify, as taste; to give a nice and delicate perception of beauty and propriety in literature and the arts.
6. To purify, as the mind or moral principles; to give or implant in the mind a nice perception of truth, justice and propriety in commerce and social intercourse. This nice perception of what is right constitutes rectitude of principle, or moral refinement of mind; and a correspondent practice of social duties, constitutes rectitude of conduct or purity of morals. Hence we speak of a refined mind, refined morals, refined principles.
To refine the heart or soul, to cleanse it from all carnal or evil affections and desires and implant in it holy or heavenly affections.
REFI'NE, v.i.
1. To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or in any thing that constitutes excellence.
Chaucer refined on Boccace and mended his stories.
Let a lord but own the happy lines, how the wit brightens, how the sense refines!
2. 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.
3. To affect nicety. Men sometimes refine in speculation beyond the limits of practical truth.
He makes another paragraph about our refining in controversy.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: improve or perfect by pruning or polishing; "refine one's style of writing" [syn: polish, refine, fine-tune, down]
2: make more complex, intricate, or richer; "refine a design or pattern" [syn: complicate, refine, rarify, elaborate]
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" [syn: refine, rectify]
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"

Merriam Webster's

verb (refined; refining) Date: 1582 transitive verb 1. to free (as metal, sugar, or oil) from impurities or unwanted material 2. to free from moral imperfection ; elevate 3. to improve or perfect by pruning or polishing <refine a poetic style> 4. to reduce in vigor or intensity 5. to free from what is coarse, vulgar, or uncouth intransitive verb 1. to become pure or perfected 2. to make improvement by introducing subtleties or distinctions • refiner noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. 1 tr. free from impurities or defects; purify, clarify. 2 tr. & intr. make or become more polished or elegant or cultured. 3 tr. & intr. make or become more subtle or delicate in thought, feelings, etc. Derivatives: refinable adj. Etymology: RE- + FINE(1) v.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(refines, refining, refined) 1. When a substance is refined, it is made pure by having all other substances removed from it. Oil is refined to remove naturally occurring impurities. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed • refining ...oil refining. N-UNCOUNT 2. If something such as a process, theory, or machine is refined, it is improved by having small changes made to it. Surgical techniques are constantly being refined. = improve VERB: usu passive, be V-ed

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Purify, clarify, fine, defecate. 2. Cultivate, polish, make elegant. II. v. n. 1. Become pure, be clarified. 2. Improve, make improvement. 3. Be over-nice, affect nicety, split hairs, make useless distinctions.

Moby Thesaurus

abate, abrade, abstract, acculturate, advance, ameliorate, amend, bate, beautify, better, bolt, boost, bring forward, carve, chisel, civilize, clarify, cleanse, clear, colliquate, concentrate, convert, cultivate, curtail, decoct, decontaminate, decrassify, decrease, deduct, defrost, depreciate, depurate, derogate, detract, develop, diminish, disparage, distill, drain, eat away, edify, educate, edulcorate, elaborate, elevate, elute, embellish, emend, enhance, enlighten, enrich, erode, essentialize, evolve, excite, express, extract, fatten, favor, file away, filter, filtrate, finish, flux, focus, forward, foster, fuse, go straight, grow, harvest, hone, impair, improve, improve upon, infuse, lard, leach, lessen, lift, lixiviate, machine, make an improvement, make sensitive, mature, meliorate, melt, melt down, mend, mill, mine, narrow, nurture, oversimplify, percolate, perfect, polish, press out, process, promote, pump, purify, quicken, raise, rear, rectify, reduce, reduce to elements, refine upon, reform, remove, render, retrench, ripen, round, rub away, run, screen, season, sensibilize, sensitize, separate, sharpen, shorten, sieve, sift, simplify, sleek, slick, smelt, smooth, soak, socialize, spiritualize, steep, stimulate, stir, straighten out, strain, streamline, strip down, subduct, sublimate, sublime, subtilize, subtract, take away, take from, thaw, thin, thin out, transfigure, transform, try, unfreeze, upgrade, uplift, wear away, weed, whet, winnow, withdraw, wring, wring out