refined
Americanadjective
-
having or showing well-bred feeling, taste, etc..
refined people.
-
freed or free from coarseness, vulgarity, etc..
refined taste.
-
freed from impurities.
refined sugar.
- Synonyms:
- distilled
-
very subtle, precise, or exact.
refined distinctions.
adjective
-
not coarse or vulgar; genteel, elegant, or polite
-
subtle; discriminating
-
freed from impurities; purified
Other Word Forms
- half-refined adjective
- nonrefined adjective
- quasi-refined adjective
- refinedly adverb
- refinedness noun
- semirefined adjective
- superrefined adjective
- ultrarefined adjective
- well-refined adjective
Etymology
Origin of refined
Explanation
Something that's refined has gone through a process to remove impurities. An oil refinery removes impurities from oil. When a person's refined, they have good manners and good taste. A stereotypically refined lady will drink tea every day at four in the afternoon, lift her pinky while drinking, and select only refined (pure white, not raw) sugar as a sweetener. Someone with a refined taste in art has learned how to make judgments about what is good and what they like.
Vocabulary lists containing refined
The Diary of Anne Frank
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Chains
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A Streetcar Named Desire
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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.
It raises an obvious question: how can a relatively simple, low-cost material compete with highly refined silicon technology developed over decades?
From Science Daily • Apr. 10, 2026
“From the moment you arrive, the home’s timeless Texas limestone facade, rich wood beams, and refined architectural detailing create an unmistakable sense of understated luxury,” the description notes.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 10, 2026
Some of his ideas will need to get refined and will be constrained financially at the city and state level.
From Barron's • Apr. 7, 2026
“Even if we get back to normal transit, some of that five million barrels a day of refined materials sourced from the Gulf will be lost for months, possibly even longer,” Mills said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 6, 2026
In time, as with Newtonian mechanics, the “central dogma” of genetics would be vastly refined, modified, and reformulated.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
