refill

R1E1F4I1L1L1
/ˈɹiː.fɪl/[ˈɹʷɪi̯.fɪɫ][-fɪo̯][-fɪʊ̯]

noun

An additional helping of food or drink at reduced cost.

“Tank's empty. We need to go for a refill.”

Similar
CommonScrabble 9

Meanings

refill1

nounrefill (plural refills)

plural refills

  1. That which serves to refill or replace something.
    1. An additional helping of food or drink at reduced cost.

      Today it is $2 for a coffee, with free refills throughout the day.

      3 more examples

      "Oh, gosh," he groaned, "and I'd have given anything for a refill of that suet! It was the wizardest muck we've had this week."

      1951, Anthony Buckeridge, Jennings Follows a Clue

      Ippudo, which operates 50 ramen shops across the country, is offering endless free noodle refills for a fortnight from election day on Sunday until 24 July, the Mainichi Shimbun said, provided they could show proof that they had voted.

      2022 July 6, Justin McCurry, “Free noodles offered as Japan wrestles with low youth turnout for elections”, in The Guardian

      They are touring a regular suburban neighborhood in Texas. They are getting free refills at a diner.

      2026 July 9, Sophie Haigney, “World Cup Tourists Are Giving Americans Exactly What We Crave”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
    2. Refuelling, fuel to refill an empty fuel tank (of a vehicle or machine) or other fuel container.

      Tank's empty. We need to go for a refill.

    3. A product intended to replace the used contents of a container or the exhausted supply of a device.

      We're cutting back. No new printers or pens, just refills.

    4. pharmacymedicineA repeat of a prescription.
  2. An act or process of refilling.

    capillary refill

    4 more examples

    […] the modified UHI correlation captures 80 percent of the total data and thus provides a conservative estimate of the heat transfer during UHI refill.

    1976, L. E. Hochreiter, B. A. McIntyre, E. R. Rosal, M. Y. Young, R. R. Fayfich, R. P. Vijuk; Westinghouse Nuclear Energy Systems, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, G-2, 17x17 Refill Heat Transfer Tests and Analysis (WCAP), volume 8793, Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Nuclear Energy Systems

    After refill, start engine and observe installed fittings and valve to make certain there are no leaks.

    1990, United States. Department of the Army, Department of the Army technical manual, volumes Organizational and Direct Support Maintenance Manual (including Repair Parts and Special Tools Lists) for Army Oil Analysis Sampling Valves, Army Oil Analysis Program, Nonaeronautical Equipment (combat, Tactical, and Special Purpose Vehicles), numbers 2300-2423, Headquarters, Department of the Army, pages 2-58

    Of course, the most efficient, money-saving option of all is straightforward refill. Ecover launched a redesign of their refill system in health food shops in 2009, which they're hoping to distribute more widely soon.

    2010 October 11, “Is sugar the new plastic?”, in The Guardian

    During refill, the drop generator acts like a simple fluid mechanical oscillator

    2018, Ross R. Allen, Gary Dispoto, Eric Hanson, John D, Meyer, Nathan Moroney, “Inkjet”, in Mitchell Rosen, Noboru Ohta, editor, Color Desktop Printer Technology, page 120

    Synonyms: refilling

refill2

verbrefill (third-person singular simple present refills, present participle refilling, simple past and past participle refilled)

present singular third person refills · participle present refilling · participle past refilled · past refilled

  1. To fill up once again.

    Can you refill my cup please? I've finished my coffee.

  2. pharmacymedicineTo repeat a prescription.

Synonyms & antonyms

nounAn act or process of refilling.

Similar

More synonyms by meaning

verbfill something that had previously been emptied

Similar
replenishfill again
Broader
fillfill upmake full
Also see

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

refill · noun

  1. Proto-Italic*wre-
  2. Latinre-
  3. Old Frenchre-
  4. Middle Englishre-
  5. Englishre-
  6. Englishfill
  7. Englishrefill

From re- (“again”) + fill (noun).

Full word history & related roots →

refill · verb

  1. Proto-Italic*wre-
  2. Latinre-
  3. Old Frenchre-
  4. Middle Englishre-
  5. Englishre-
  6. Proto-Indo-European*pleh₁-
  7. Proto-Indo-European*pl̥h₁nós
  8. Proto-Germanic*fullaz
  9. Proto-Germanic*fullijaną
  10. Proto-West Germanic*fullijan
  11. Old Englishfyllan
  12. Middle Englishfillen
  13. Englishfill
  14. Englishrefill

From re- (“again”) + fill (verb).

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Bulgarian резерва, зареждам
  • резерва (rezerva)product containing replacement materials
  • зареждам (zareždam)to fill up again
  • пълня отново (pălnja otnovo)to fill up again
Catalan reomplir
  • reomplirto fill up again
Dutch tankbeurt, herhaalrecept
  • tankbeurtrefuelling
  • herhaalreceptrepeat prescription
Finnish lisäannos, santsikuppi
  • lisäannosadditional helping
  • santsikuppiadditional helping
  • täyttö-product containing replacement materials
  • vaihto-product containing replacement materials
French reremplir
  • reremplirto fill up again
German Nachschlag, Tanken
  • Nachschlagadditional helping
  • Tankenrefuelling
  • Wiederholungsrezeptrepeat prescription
  • nachfüllento fill up again
Greek ανταλλακτικό
  • ανταλλακτικό (antallaktikó)product containing replacement materials
Icelandic ábót
  • ábótadditional helping
Irish athlíon
  • athlíonto fill up again
Italian ricarica, cartuccia
  • ricaricaproduct containing replacement materials
  • cartucciaproduct containing replacement materials
Japanese お代わり, リフィル
  • お代わり (o-kawari)additional helping
  • リフィル (rifiru)additional helping
Korean 리필
  • 리필 (ripil)additional helping
Latin repleō
  • repleōto fill up again
Polish dolewka, wkład
  • dolewkaadditional helping
  • wkładproduct containing replacement materials
Portuguese refill, reencher
  • refilladditional helping
  • reencherto fill up again
Russian доба́вка
  • доба́вка (dobávka)additional helping
Slovak náhradná náplň, doplniť
  • náhradná náplňproduct containing replacement materials
  • doplniťto fill up again
  • dopĺňaťto fill up again
  • doliaťto fill up again
  • dolievaťto fill up again
  • znovu naplniťto fill up again
  • znovu napĺňaťto fill up again
Spanish refill, reservida
  • refilladditional helping
  • reservidaadditional helping
  • rehenchimientoadditional helping
  • refiladditional helping
  • rellenarto fill up again
  • reservirto fill up again
  • rehenchirto fill up again
Swedish påtår
  • påtåradditional helping

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with refill

All rhymes →

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

refill. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/refill

MLA

“refill.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/refill. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “refill,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/refill.

Source: refill on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.