refine
Americanverb (used with object)
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refines,
present (3rd person singular)
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refined,
past participle, past
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refining
present participle
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to bring to a fine or a pure state; free from impurities.
to refine metal, sugar, or petroleum.
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to purify from what is coarse, vulgar, or debasing; make elegant or cultured.
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to bring to a finer state or form by purifying.
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to make more fine, subtle, or precise.
to refine one's writing style.
verb (used without object)
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refines,
present (3rd person singular)
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refined,
past participle, past
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refining
present participle
-
to become pure.
The silver is refining in the furnace.
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to become more fine, elegant, or polished.
His parents hope that his manners will refine as he gets older.
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to make fine distinctions in thought or language.
verb phrase
verb
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to make or become free from impurities, sediment, or other foreign matter; purify
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(tr) to separate (a mixture) into pure constituents, as in an oil refinery
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to make or become free from coarse characteristics; make or become elegant or polished
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to remove (something impure or extraneous)
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(intr; often foll by on or upon) to enlarge or improve (upon) by making subtle or fine distinctions
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(tr) to make (language) more subtle or polished
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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refinernoun
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prerefineverb (used with object)
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superrefineverb (used with object)
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refinableadjective
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self-refiningadjective
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unrefiningadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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refinesimple
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refinessimple
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have refinedperfect
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has refinedperfect
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am refiningprogressive
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are refiningprogressive
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is refiningprogressive
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have been refiningperfect progressive
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has been refiningperfect progressive
Past
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refinedsimple
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had refinedperfect
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was refiningprogressive
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were refiningprogressive
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had been refiningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of refine
Explanation
When you refine something, you make it better. Whether it's sugar or an essay, refining it requires fixing its flaws. You may think you created a masterpiece on the first try. But there's always room to refine. More than just working out the kinks, refining something means you're going to fine tune it, hone it to perfection, and make it more precise. In scientific terms, to refine something means to reduce it down to a pure state. At the dinner table, you can please grandma by refining your manners.
Vocabulary lists containing refine
Hatchet
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Drowned City: Hurricane Katrina & New Orleans
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"On Being Brought from Africa to America" by Phillis Wheatley
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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:
In Twitch's own FAQs about AI training, it said a person's audio might be used to "refine models that create speech to text".
From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2026
LA28 said more tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis for every sport next year as organizers refine venue layouts.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 21, 2026
The Danuri team in turn sent their coordinates to NASA's LRO team to help refine their follow-up imaging sequence.
From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026
But in 2015, to enhance competition, Beijing started giving teapots more freedom to refine petroleum sourced from abroad.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
Indeed, scholars at Jundi Shapur invented new and better ways to refine cane into sugar.
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
The creative team then reviews and refines multiple AI-generated versions of a scene before deciding which expressions and line readings best serve the story.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026
The company refines its AI model using input from customers, who say they like knowing that a package arrived while they were in a meeting or that a family member got home safely.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 5, 2026
It mines bauxite, the raw material for aluminum, refines it into alumina powder, and operates smelters that turn alumina to finished aluminum.
From Barron's ● Mar. 30, 2026
Edwin Chen, whose 6-year-old business Surge AI refines AI models, is the wealthiest of the new class of AI billionaires, worth about $18 billion.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 10, 2026
A race builds itself for a million years, refines itself, erects cities like those out there, does everything it can to give itself respect and beauty, and then it dies.
From "The Martian Chronicles" by Ray Bradbury
Russia supplies almost all of the two countries’ refined fuels and 13% of Mongolia’s electricity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026
The threat of U.S. tariffs — the Commerce Department has outlined a potential phased universal tariff on refined copper in 2027 and 2028 — also prompted traders to pull forward months of future supply.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 27, 2026
During the Renaissance, Italians refined fencing into its modern form, and soon fencing schools began popping up all over Europe.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
The amount of refined products made from coal in 2024 was equivalent to refining nearly 300 million barrels of crude—or around a month of crude-oil imports that year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
Mercedes was a refined little bat, though, and she never attacked by flinging handfuls of pebbles; that would have been unspeakably crude.
From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols
Refineries’ gross refining margins are also well-supported by supply disruptions, the analyst says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 28, 2026
“The renewed rise in oil and gas prices, persistently elevated refining margins, the gradual withdrawal of government support and unfavorable base effects all point to sustained energy inflation pressures,” they said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
Using those measurements, it calculated Starling's position while also refining the estimated locations of other objects in space.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026
Tommee Larochelle, an engineer and specialist in the development of rare earths extraction and refining processes, questions the commercial viability of the WVU project but says it could "ensure minimum supply to the defense industry."
From Barron's ● Aug. 22, 2026
“Marvellers spend years refining their light,” Dr. Bearden said, tapping the rings to make them go faster, “but first you must learn to pull it out.”
From "The Marvellers" by Dhonielle Clayton
Definitions 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.
