honed

[ hohnd ]

adjective

1. sharpened on a hone or whetstone:

   Our julienne peeler has 12 honed blades for superfine cuts that will make your julienne vegetables look like a restaurant’s.

2. made more acute or effective; improved or perfected:

   We finish our degrees with highly desirable, finely honed skills, including how to research, how to work hard, and how to think critically.

3. (of a hole) enlarged with a hone:

   When it comes to the barrel of this rifle, the diameter uniformity and roundness of the honed bore are superb.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of hone ¹( def ).

Word History and Origins

Origin of honed¹

hone ¹( def ) + -ed ²( def )

Example Sentences

So it’s hoping to be able to keep honing the model’s accuracy.

From TechCrunch

As a chef and a man, Posey honed his bold self-possession, despite being born into chattel slavery in Virginia.

From Washington Post

Around that time, Jung began to hone his notion of synchronicity in preparation for developing a treatise on the subject.

From Nautilus

Rosen argued that lawyers needed to get more evidence and hone their case for charging Zinke with lying to federal investigators, according to people familiar with the matter.

From Washington Post

If he feels like he can carry the weight, then we really want him to really hone in on his flexibility and his first-step quickness.

From Washington Post

Their authors promise that your spirit will be improved, your ambition honed, and your finances maximized by their advice.

From The Daily Beast

Fueled by a well-honed messaging and technology-driven targeting, an otherwise unknown candidate sailed into office.

From The Daily Beast

His skills have also been honed working for the GOP presidential campaigns of George W. Bush and Mitt Romney.

From The Daily Beast

It requires a finely honed sense of timing and a griddle that has been seasoned just right.

From The Daily Beast

When Veep returned Sunday night, its sharp-tongued writing was honed to a perfect razor edge.

From The Daily Beast

He had never seen her look more beautiful, but it was the icy beauty of a honed dagger.

From Project Gutenberg

These should be fined or honed to a perfect point, and the abrupt part of the barb filed down one-half.

From Project Gutenberg

But, do you know, there is no sentence I might utter that has a keener, a more freshly honed razor-edge to it than that.

From Project Gutenberg

This weapon is always kept as sharp as possible; and when being used is occasionally honed, just like a razor.

From Project Gutenberg

He went out to where his followers made grisly zinging noises where they honed their knives.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• cogent
• concise
• laconic
• succinct
• terse
• trenchant