refined

[ri-fahynd]

adjective

1. having or showing well-bred feeling, taste, etc..

   refined people.

   Synonyms: elegant, genteel, courtly, civilized, courteous, polite, polished, cultivated
   Antonyms: crude, coarse, rude

2. freed or free from coarseness, vulgarity, etc..

   refined taste.

3. freed from impurities.

   refined sugar.

   Synonyms: distilled

4. very subtle, precise, or exact.

   refined distinctions.

refined

/ rɪˈfaɪnd /

adjective

1. not coarse or vulgar; genteel, elegant, or polite

2. subtle; discriminating

3. freed from impurities; purified

Other Word Forms

• refinedly adverb
• refinedness noun
• half-refined adjective
• nonrefined adjective
• quasi-refined adjective
• semirefined adjective
• superrefined adjective
• ultrarefined adjective
• well-refined adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of refined¹

First recorded in 1565–75; refine + -ed ²

Example Sentences

They would require foreign companies to get approval for selling magnets that contain even minimal amounts of rare earth sourced from China, or produced or refined using Chinese technology.

Read more on Barron's

Using their refined method, the MIT team lowered the rate of mistakes in prime editing from roughly one in seven edits to about one in 101 for the most common editing type.

Read more on Science Daily

Super shoes, refined training, faster tracks and legal supplements most likely have had bigger effects on lowering times.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

While Russia has been able to shuffle its crude oil and refined products around economic sanctions, Ukrainian attacks on Russian energy infrastructure could limit Russian supply and lead to a relatively tighter market, he says.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The ore’s refined intermediate product—alumina—must go through electrolysis at a smelter to break aluminum’s strong bond to oxygen.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• classy 
• cultivated 
• delicate 
• discriminating 
• elegant 
• genteel 
• polished 
• precise 
• sophisticated 
• subtle 
• tasteful 
• urbane