refill
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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refills,
present (3rd person singular)
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refilled,
past participle, past
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refilling
present participle
noun
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refills
plural
verb
noun
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a replacement for a consumable substance in a permanent container
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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
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refillsimple
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refillssimple
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have refilledperfect
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has refilledperfect
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am refillingprogressive
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are refillingprogressive
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is refillingprogressive
-
have been refillingperfect progressive
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has been refillingperfect progressive
Past
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refilledsimple
-
had refilledperfect
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was refillingprogressive
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were refillingprogressive
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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:
"And the need to refill those stocks will mean energy prices remain elevated for a period, even when disruption in the Middle East clears."
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
It cautioned that the "window for sufficient refill is closing".
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
You set your spending from the cash bucket, refill it with fixed-income yields, and then buy new fixed-income products with the sale of stock.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 8, 2026
After rinsing the pipe, workers will refill it with clean water, refill the hole and repave the street.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
Like, I might need to refill my well of tears before I run out.
From "Dumplin'" by Julie Murphy
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
Since restaurants generally don’t allow you to take bottomless refills home, McGrath suggests filling up on the apps while you’re at the table.
From MarketWatch ● May 14, 2026
With fountain drinks running about $11.99 each this season, those babies pay for themselves in around six refills.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 31, 2026
"I don't know when Site Services refills the fridge."
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
Somebody washed the ramekins and refilled the baskets.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2026
These vessels were anchored and at times rafted together waiting for mother ships to come and be refilled around the Pengerang Integrated Petroleum Complex on the Malaysian side of the Singapore Strait.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 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
I emptied my bottle and refilled it from their well.
From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer
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
"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
With the replacement pipe in place, workers transitioned to slowly refilling the pipe to restore pressure, disinfecting the water line with chlorine and checking for any leaks.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2026
But refilling is slow, slower than my suit was leaking.
From "The Martian" by Andy Weir
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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.
