refill
Americanverb (used with or without object)
-
refills,
present (3rd person singular)
-
refilled,
past participle, past
-
refilling
present participle
noun
-
refills
plural
verb
noun
-
a replacement for a consumable substance in a permanent container
-
a second or subsequent filling
a refill at the petrol station
-
informal another drink to replace one already drunk
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
refillsimple
-
refillssimple
-
have refilledperfect
-
has refilledperfect
-
am refillingprogressive
-
are refillingprogressive
-
is refillingprogressive
-
have been refillingperfect progressive
-
has been refillingperfect progressive
Past
-
refilledsimple
-
had refilledperfect
-
was refillingprogressive
-
were refillingprogressive
-
had been refillingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of refill
Explanation
To refill is to fill something again, the way you refill your motorcycle's gas tank or refill your cat's water bowl when you notice it's almost empty. You can also refill a prescription, by going to the pharmacy and getting another month's worth of medication. The bottle of pills itself can also be called a refill. People commonly use this word as a noun for the act of filling up, too: "Hey, grab that waiter and ask for a refill on the Cokes!"
Vocabulary lists containing refill
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Environmental and fishing advocates say they’re hoping the seasonal rains come soon to refill the river and allow the fish to reach the creeks where they can lay their eggs.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
I stopped to refill the other day and it cost me about almost £70 for my 1.6 litre Mini, so it's definitely a jump as I do not normally spend over 50.
From BBC ● Sep. 22, 2026
It cautioned that the "window for sufficient refill is closing".
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
Life insurance can refill coffers when all else is gone and can possibly save a family from losing a house.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 25, 2026
“Must I remind my lord, this trouble is not of my doing? And not all of us have had die opportunity to refill our coffers with the plunder of Maidenpool and Dragonstone.”
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
I send questions, ask for prescription refills, and am able to look over all my test results quickly and conveniently.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
Sampe's team only has two 6,000-litre fire engines, and deploys one at a time while the other refills.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
The team defined discontinuation as a gap of more than 60 days between prescription refills.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 16, 2026
Your cistern no longer refills endlessly, but now you have to lift the lid and manually reset it after every flush.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 10, 2026
He’s a real pro, the kind of waiter who refills your water glass when it’s half empty, without you noticing he’s doing it.
From "Every Day" by David Levithan
Somebody washed the ramekins and refilled the baskets.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
The 60 Gulf Coast salt caverns that make up the stocks can’t be drawn from or refilled at the rate at which they were designed, federal researchers have found.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
Millions of workers leave or switch jobs every year — and those jobs need to be refilled.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026
But problems arose shortly after the pool was refilled, with algae quickly regrowing and the new liner peeling in multiple places.
From Barron's ● Jul. 31, 2026
The buckets make a muted, frozen clanking as they are refilled.
From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr
One of Earth's most powerful supervolcanoes is slowly refilling its enormous underground magma reservoir, thousands of years after producing one of the largest volcanic eruptions in recent geological history.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2026
The aircraft isn’t the only one of its kind, but its capacity, rapid refilling rate and relatively small size have made it the cornerstone of European firefighting fleets.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 30, 2026
"We fear today," said Jeremy Presi, a local business owner volunteering to help firefighters at a water refilling station.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
Energy Secretary Chris Wright has put the cost of refilling it at roughly $20 billion over several years.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 27, 2026
Now, with a solid suit capable of holding pressure, refilling the tanks was a breeze.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
