'Refine' definitions:

Definition of 'refine'

(from WordNet)
verb
Improve or perfect by pruning or polishing; "refine one's style of writing" [syn: polish, refine, fine-tune, down]
verb
Make more complex, intricate, or richer; "refine a design or pattern" [syn: complicate, refine, rarify, elaborate]
verb
Treat or prepare so as to put in a usable condition; "refine paper stock"; "refine pig iron"; "refine oil"
verb
Reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; separate from extraneous matter or cleanse from impurities; "refine sugar" [syn: refine, rectify]
verb
Attenuate or reduce in vigor, strength, or validity by polishing or purifying; "many valuable nutrients are refined out of the foods in our modern diet"
verb
Make more precise or increase the discriminatory powers of; "refine a method of analysis"; "refine the constant in the equation"

Definition of 'Refine'

From: GCIDE
  • Refine \Re*fine"\, v. i.
  • 1. To become pure; to be cleared of feculent matter. [1913 Webster]
  • So the pure, limpid stream, when foul with stains, Works itself clear, and, as it runs, refines. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence. [1913 Webster]
  • Chaucer refined on Boccace, and mended his stories. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • But let a lord once own the happy lines, How the wit brightens! How the style refines! --Pope. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To affect nicety or subtilty in thought or language. "He makes another paragraph about our refining in controversy." --Atterbury. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Refine'

From: GCIDE
  • Refine \Re*fine"\ (r?*f?n"), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Refined (-find"); p. pr. & vb. n. Refining.] [Pref. re- + fine to make fine: cf. F. raffiner.]
  • 1. To reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from impurities; to free from dross or alloy; to separate from extraneous matter; to purify; to defecate; as, to refine gold or silver; to refine iron; to refine wine or sugar. [1913 Webster]
  • I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined. --Zech. xiii. 9. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To purify from what is gross, coarse, vulgar, inelegant, low, and the like; to make elegant or exellent; to polish; as, to refine the manners, the language, the style, the taste, the intellect, or the moral feelings. [1913 Webster]
  • Love refines The thoughts, and heart enlarges. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
  • Syn: To purify; clarify; polish; ennoble. [1913 Webster]

Synonyms of 'refine'

From: Moby Thesaurus