Meanings
present singular third person refurbishes · participle present refurbishing · participle past refurbished · past refurbished
- transitiveTo rebuild or replenish with entirely new material; to restore to original (or better) working order and appearance; to renovate.
We're having the sitting room refurbished, after a leak damaged a large part of the room.
1 more example
He also makes the point that in France, SNCF is currently refurbishing some TGVs built in 1988.
2024 May 29, Peter Plisner, “Network News: Gibb plans HS2 alternative with 155mph Pendolinos”, in RAIL, number 1010, page 6
Synonyms & antonyms
verbTo rebuild or replenish with entirely new material; to restore to original (or better) working order and appearance; to renovate.
More synonyms by meaning
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Frankish*furbēn“to clean, polish”
- Middle Frenchforbir“to clean, polish”
- Middle Englishfurbishen
- Englishrefurbish
1605, from re- + furbish, from Middle English furbishen, from Middle French forbir (stem furbiss-, “to clean, polish”), from Frankish *furbēn (“to clean, polish”).
More words from Middle English, Middle French, Frankish
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic جَدَّدَ, صقل
- جَدَّدَ (jaddada)rebuild or replenish
- صقلrebuild or replenish
Bulgarian подновявам
- подновявам (podnovjavam)rebuild or replenish
Chinese Mandarin 翻新, 刷新
- 翻新 (fānxīn)rebuild or replenish
- 刷新 (shuāxīn)rebuild or replenish
Dutch opkalefateren, renoveren
- opkalefaterenrebuild or replenish
- renoverenrebuild or replenish
- opknappenrebuild or replenish
Finnish kunnostaa, remontoida
- kunnostaarebuild or replenish
- remontoidarebuild or replenish
French renouveler, restaurer
- renouvelerrebuild or replenish
- restaurerrebuild or replenish
German wiederaufarbeiten, restaurieren
- wiederaufarbeitenrebuild or replenish
- restaurierenrebuild or replenish
- generalüberholenrebuild or replenish
- wieder instand setzenrebuild or replenish
- alle Mangel beseitigenrebuild or replenish
Greek ανακαινίζω
- ανακαινίζω (anakainízo)rebuild or replenish
Hebrew חִדֵּשׁ
- חִדֵּשׁrebuild or replenish
Hungarian felújít
- felújítrebuild or replenish
Italian rinnovare, ammodernare
- rinnovarerebuild or replenish
- ammodernarerebuild or replenish
Japanese 改装する
- 改装する (kaisō suru)rebuild or replenish
Latin interpolō
- interpolōrebuild or replenish
Norwegian Bokmål pusse opp
- pusse opprebuild or replenish
Polish odświeżać, odświeżyć
- odświeżaćrebuild or replenish
- odświeżyćrebuild or replenish
- odnawiaćrebuild or replenish
- odnowićrebuild or replenish
- remontowaćrebuild or replenish
Portuguese restaurar
- restaurarrebuild or replenish
Russian восстана́вливать, обновля́ть
- восстана́вливать (vosstanávlivatʹ)rebuild or replenish
- обновля́ть (obnovljátʹ)rebuild or replenish
Spanish restaurar, reacondicionar
- restaurarrebuild or replenish
- reacondicionarrebuild or replenish
- renovarrebuild or replenish
- rehabilitarrebuild or replenish
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
refurbish. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/refurbish
“refurbish.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/refurbish. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “refurbish,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/refurbish.
Source: refurbish on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.