refined

[ri-fahynd]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR refined ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

having or showing well-bred feeling, taste, etc.: refined people.

freed or free from coarseness, vulgarity, etc.: refined taste.

freed from impurities: refined sugar.

very subtle, precise, or exact: refined distinctions.

Origin of refined

First recorded in 1565–75; refine + -ed²

Related formsre·fin·ed·ly

[ri-fahy-nid-lee, -fahynd-] /rɪˈfaɪ nɪd li, -ˈfaɪnd-/, adverbre·fin·ed·ness, nounhalf-re·fined, adjectivenon·re·fined, adjectivequa·si-re·fined, adjectivesem·i·re·fined, adjectivesu·per·re·fined, adjectiveul·tra·re·fined, adjectivewell-re·fined, adjective

Synonyms for refined

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR refined ON THESAURUS.COM

1. cultivated, polished, polite, courteous, civilized, courtly, genteel, elegant. 3. clarified, distilled, purified.

Antonyms for refined

1. rude, coarse, crude.

refine

[ri-fahyn]

verb (used with object), re·fined, re·fin·ing.

to bring to a fine or a pure state; free from impurities: to refine metal, sugar, or petroleum.

to purify from what is coarse, vulgar, or debasing; make elegant or cultured.

to bring to a finer state or form by purifying.

to make more fine, subtle, or precise: to refine one's writing style.

verb (used without object), re·fined, re·fin·ing.

to become pure: The silver is refining in the furnace.

to become more fine, elegant, or polished: His parents hope that his manners will refine as he gets older.

to make fine distinctions in thought or language.

Verb Phrases

refine on/upon, to improve by inserting finer distinctions, superior elements, etc.: to refine on one's previous work.

Origin of refine

First recorded in 1575–85; re- + fine¹

Related formsre·fin·a·ble, adjectivere·fin·er, nounpre·re·fine, verb (used with object), pre·re·fined, pre·re·fin·ing.self-re·fin·ing, adjectivesu·per·re·fine, verb (used with object), su·per·re·fined, su·per·re·fin·ing.un·re·fin·ing, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for refined

precise, polished, tasteful, cultivated, discriminating, elegant, genteel, delicate, classy, subtle, sophisticated, urbane, processed, pure, purified, exact, discerning, enlightened, fine, restrained

Examples from the Web for refined

Contemporary Examples of refined

To produce deliciously smooth drams of single malt, the region has refined the ancient art of distillation.
When It Comes to Great Whisky, The Size of Your Still Matters
December 9, 2014
In refined form, sugar (also known as sucrose) has been linked to everything from heart disease to diabetes.
Are Artificial Sweeteners Wrecking Your Diet?
DailyBurn
September 30, 2014
From the refined attire at Lincoln Center to the avant-garde dress downtown, we spotted many of the big 2014 trends.
New York Fashion Week's Style on the Streets
Sara Sayed
September 11, 2014
Stacks of refined (left) and crude (right) Tin ingots after smelting.
Will You Choose a Conflict-Free Microprocessor?
Intel
May 29, 2014
Refined, elegant, and to the manor born, Betty is everything that Don is not.
Every Woman Don Draper’s Hooked Up With on ‘Mad Men’
Amy Zimmerman
April 13, 2014

Historical Examples of refined

Sympathetic persons are apt to assume that every refined emotion must be ennobling.
Malbone
Thomas Wentworth Higginson
Major Harper, the oldest, most refined and most soldierly of them all, was also the handsomest.
The Cavalier
George Washington Cable
But it is in graceful, refined France that cookery is and has been, a pet art.
Culture and Cooking
Catherine Owen
His accent was none of the Elberthal one; it was fine, refined, polished.
The First Violin
Jessie Fothergill
Not in vain you live, for every passing eye is cheered and refined by the vision.
Essays, First Series
Ralph Waldo Emerson

British Dictionary definitions for refined

refined

adjective

not coarse or vulgar; genteel, elegant, or polite

subtle; discriminating

freed from impurities; purified

refine

verb

to make or become free from impurities, sediment, or other foreign matter; purify

(tr) to separate (a mixture) into pure constituents, as in an oil refinery

to make or become free from coarse characteristics; make or become elegant or polished

(tr often foll by out) to remove (something impure or extraneous)

(intr ; often foll by on or upon) to enlarge or improve (upon) by making subtle or fine distinctions

(tr) to make (language) more subtle or polished

Derived Formsrefinable, adjective

Word Origin for refine

C16: from re- + fine 1

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for refined

adj.

1570s, "subtle;" 1580s, "elegant;" 1590s, "purified," past participle adjective from refine (v.).

refine

1580s, of metals, c.1590 of manners, from re-, intensive prefix, + obsolete fine (v.) "make fine," from fine (adj.) "delicate." Cf. French raffiner, Italian raffinare, Spanish refinar. General and figurative sense is recorded from 1590s; of sugar, from 1610s. Related: Refined; refining.

refined in Medicine

refine

[rĭ-fīn′]

v.

To reduce to a pure state; purify.