unrefined
Americanadjective
-
not refined; not purified, as substances.
unrefined metal.
- Synonyms:
- coarse, crude, unpurified
-
coarse or crude; lacking in refinement of taste, feeling, manners, language, etc.
- Synonyms:
- gross, vulgar, boorish, rude, ill-bred, uncultured, unpolished
adjective
-
(of substances such as petroleum, ores, and sugar) not processed into a pure or usable form
-
coarse in manners or language
Etymology
Origin of unrefined
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.
Under a shed in north India, women scoop cow dung, lumps of unrefined sugar and flour to produce biofertiliser -- part of a growing effort to tackle anxieties over the supply of chemical fertilisers.
From Barron's ● Jun. 16, 2026
His unnamed, unrefined spy who liked to cook was in stark relief to the suave man’s man that was James Bond and an uncomfortable sight for some of the producers of the film adaptation.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
“They are little fiber bombs and great prebiotics, as well as a source of unrefined sugar.”
From Salon ● Jan. 17, 2026
The vast majority of Russia's oil exports are in the form of unrefined crude oil, which do not appear to have been impacted by the strikes.
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2025
Swart was a young man, and I explained to him that brown rice was the unrefined rice kernel, and we used to eat it during the war when white rice was unavailable.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
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.
