refinery
Americannoun
-
refineries
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of refinery
Explanation
A refinery is a facility where raw materials are converted into some valuable substance by having impurities removed. At an oil refinery, crude oil is treated and made into gasoline and other petroleum products. Whenever a material needs to have unwanted parts removed in order to be made into a useable product, it must be refined — clarified or processed. This is done at a plant called a refinery. A sugar refinery, for example, converts sugar cane or beets into familiar white, refined crystals of sugar. Refinery comes from refine, which is rooted in the now-obsolete verb fine, "make fine."
Vocabulary lists containing refinery
Refugee
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The Cay
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The Omnivore's Dilemma
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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:
Chen and Fan decided it would be better if Hengli made PTA itself—which meant building its own major refinery.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
"And what if the Yaroslavl refinery shuts down for good?" asked Dmitry, visibly annoyed as he filled up his Lexus after a 15-minute wait at a petrol station in eastern Moscow.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
On Sunday, the Houthis claimed responsibility for an attack on a Saudi refinery in Jizan on the Red Sea, after also claiming an earlier strike there in late July.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 11, 2026
The authorities in Bashkortostan have not publicly commented on the reported Ukrainian attack on the Bashneft-Novoil refinery on 5 August.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
The water had a sharp, foul smell that let me know there was a tannery upstream, or a refinery.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
The drones, built by two separate British companies, have been used in mainland Russia in widespread and successful targeting of military and industrial targets, including refineries and warehouses of online retailer Wildberries.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
The waiver has let California obtain more fuel from Gulf of Mexico refineries, which has reduced the spread between the state’s gasoline prices and the national average by about 25 cents a gallon.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Ukraine's defence forces previously struck oil refineries in Nizhnekamsk on 12 June.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Several big refineries have become more massive in recent years, as energy companies built additional units at plants to allow them to make more fuel.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026
Sometimes a brief tour: a glimpse of the sea in one district, towering forests in another, ugly factories, fields of wheat, stinking refineries.
From "Catching Fire" by Suzanne Collins
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.
