refine

present singular third person refines · participle present refining · participle past refined · past refined

1. transitiveTo purify; reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from impurities.

   to refine gold

   4 more examples

   to refine iron

   to refine wine

   to refine sugar

   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.

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

2. intransitiveTo become pure; to be cleared of impure matter.
3. transitiveTo purify of coarseness, vulgarity, inelegance, etc.; to polish.

   a refined style

   3 more examples

   to refine someone's manners

   to refine a language

   to refine one's tastes

4. ambitransitiveTo improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence.

   HS2 Ltd has continued to refine the designs, so that seven fewer ancient woodlands will be affected. This reduces the total number to 25. And of those 25 woodlands, 85% of the total area will remain untouched by HS2.

   2023 August 23, Chris Howe, “Green screen: HS2's route through the shires”, in RAIL, number 990, page 34

   2 more examples

   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.

   1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume I, chapter 9

   Adjust the volume, tweak the contours, refine the timing and, if need be, fiddle with the setting, and the hoariest yuck-fest can seem as dewy as a morning in May. Examples of tales told ticklingly are in unusual abundance here, with comedies for every taste within the mainstream of London theater.

   2007 August 2, Ben Brantley, “Titters, Snickers and Guffaws, With a British Accent”, in New York Times

5. transitiveTo make nice or subtle.

   to refine thought

   1 more example

   to refine someone's language