Adjacent Words

Refinement definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

REFI'NEMENT, n.
1. The act of purifying by separating from a substance all extraneous matter; a clearing from dross, dregs or recrement; as the refinement of metals or liquors.
2. The state of being pure.
The more bodies are of a kin to spirit in subtilty and refinement, the more diffusive are they.
3. Polish of language; elegance; purity.
From the civil war to this time, I doubt whether the corruptions in our language have not equaled its refinements.
4. Polish of manners; elegance; nice observance of the civilities of social intercourse and of graceful decorum. Refinement of manners is often found in persons of corrupt morals.
5. Purity of taste; nice perception of beauty and propriety in literature and the arts.
6. Purity of mind and morals; nice perception and observance of rectitude in moral principles and practice.
7. Purity of heart; the state of the heart purified from sensual and evil affections. This refinement is the effect of christian principles.
8. Artificial practice; subtilty; as the refinements of cunning.
9. Affectation of nicety, or of elegant improvement; as the refinements of reasoning or philosophy.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a highly developed state of perfection; having a flawless or impeccable quality; "they performed with great polish"; "I admired the exquisite refinement of his prose"; "almost an inspiration which gives to all work that finish which is almost art"--Joseph Conrad [syn: polish, refinement, culture, cultivation, finish]
2: the result of improving something; "he described a refinement of this technique" [syn: refinement, elaboration]
3: the process of removing impurities (as from oil or metals or sugar etc.) [syn: refining, refinement, purification]
4: a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude; "without understanding the finer nuances you can't enjoy the humor"; "don't argue about shades of meaning" [syn: nuance, nicety, shade, subtlety, refinement]
5: the quality of excellence in thought and manners and taste; "a man of intellectual refinement"; "he is remembered for his generosity and civilization" [syn: refinement, civilization, civilisation]

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: circa 1611 1. the action or process of refining 2. the quality or state of being refined ; cultivation 3. a. a refined feature or method b. a highly refined distinction ; subtlety c. a contrivance or device intended to improve or perfect

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 the act of refining or the process of being refined. 2 fineness of feeling or taste. 3 polish or elegance in behaviour or manner. 4 an added development or improvement (a car with several refinements). 5 a piece of subtle reasoning. 6 a fine distinction. 7 a subtle or ingenious example or display (all the refinements of reasoning). Etymology: REFINE + -MENT, after F raffinement

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Refinement Re*fine"ment (r?*f?n"ment), n. [Cf. F. raffinement.] 1. The act of refining, or the state of being refined; as, the refinement or metals; refinement of ideas. The more bodies are of kin to spirit in subtilty and refinement, the more diffusive are they. --Norris. From the civil war to this time, I doubt whether the corruptions in our language have not equaled its refinements. --Swift. 2. That which is refined, elaborated, or polished to excess; an affected subtilty; as, refinements of logic. ``The refinements of irregular cunning.'' --Rogers. Syn: Purification; polish; politeness; gentility; elegance; cultivation; civilization.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(refinements) 1. Refinements are small changes or additions that you make to something in order to improve it. Refinement is the process of making refinements. Older cars inevitably lack the latest safety refinements. N-VAR 2. Refinement is politeness and good manners. ...a girl who possessed both dignity and refinement.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Clarification, purification, filtration, defecation, sublimation. 2. Improvement. 3. Elegance, polish, purity, delicacy, cultivation, civility, civilization, culture, politeness, gentility, good-breeding. 4. Subtilty, nicety, fineness, delicacy. 5. Subtilty, finesse, sophistry, artifice, nicety.

Moby Thesaurus

Atticism, ablation, abrasion, absoluteness, abstraction, acculturation, accuracy, acquired taste, appreciation, appreciation of differences, appreciation of excellence, appreciativeness, appropriateness, artistic judgment, attention to detail, attention to fact, beautification, bettering, betterment, bolting, breeding, care for truth, chasteness, chastity, choiceness, circumstantiality, civility, civilization, civilized taste, civilizedness, clarification, clarifying, clarity, classicalism, classicism, cleaning, cleansing, clearness, colature, comeliness, concentrate, concentration, connoisseurship, conscientiousness, correctness, courtesy, courtliness, critical niceness, criticality, criticalness, cultivated taste, cultivation, culture, daintiness, decoction, deduction, delicacy, delicate distinction, delicateness, destructive distillation, detail, development, differentia, differential, dignity, diplomacy, directness, discernment, discriminating taste, discriminatingness, discrimination, discriminativeness, disentanglement, disinvolvement, distillate, distillation, distinction, down, downiness, ease, education, edulcoration, elaboration, elegance, elegancy, elixir, elution, elutriation, embellishment, enculturation, enhancement, enlightenment, erosion, essence, essentialization, evolution, exactingness, exactitude, exactness, excellence, exquisiteness, extract, extraction, faithfulness, fastidiousness, faultlessness, feel, feeling, felicitousness, felicity, fidelity, filminess, filtering, filtration, fine palate, fine point, fine-grainedness, fineness, finesse, finicality, finicalness, finickiness, finickingness, finish, fittingness, flawlessness, flow, flowing periods, fluency, fluff, fluffiness, fussiness, fuzz, fuzziness, genteelness, gentility, gentlemanlikeness, gentlemanliness, gentleness, good breeding, good taste, gossameriness, grace, gracefulness, gracility, graciosity, graciousness, hairline, improvement, infusion, judiciousness, ladylikeness, leaching, limpidity, literalism, literality, literalness, lixiviation, lucidity, making distinctions, margin, mathematical precision, maturation, meticulousness, minuteness, minutia, narrow margin, narrowing, naturalness, neatness, nice distinction, niceness, niceness of distinction, nicety, nuance, palate, particle of difference, particularity, particularness, peach fuzz, pellucidity, percolation, perfection, perspicuity, plainness, point of difference, polish, politeness, politesse, preciseness, precisianism, precision, propriety, pubescence, punctiliousness, punctuality, purification, purifying, purity, quality, quintessence, refined discrimination, refined palate, refining, removal, restraint, riddling, right, rightness, rigidity, rigidness, rigor, rigorousness, ripening, satin, satininess, screening, scrupulosity, scrupulousness, seasoning, seemliness, selectiveness, sense, sensibility, sensitivity, separation, severity, shade of difference, sieving, sifting, silk, silkiness, simplicity, simplification, smoothness, socialization, softness, sophistication, spirit, spiritualization, straightforwardness, straining, streamlining, strictness, stripping, stripping down, suaveness, suavity, subduction, sublation, sublimation, subtle distinction, subtlety, subtraction, tact, tactfulness, taste, tastefulness, terseness, textualism, the letter, unaffectedness, uncluttering, unscrambling, unsnarling, urbanity, velvet, velvetiness, wide margin, winnowing