fineness

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Related to fineness: Fineness modulus, Fineness ratio

fineness

state of being fine; superior quality; proportion of pure precious metal in an alloy: The fineness of the diamond was extraordinary.

Not to be confused with:

finesse – extreme delicacy in performance; skill; adroitness; trick or stratagem; skill in handling a highly sensitive situation; adroit and artful management: exceptional diplomatic finesse

fine¹

(fīn)

adj. fin·er, fin·est

a. Of superior quality, skill, or appearance: a fine day; a fine wine.

b. Excellent in character or ability: a fine person; a fine writer.

2. Very small in size, weight, or thickness: fine type; fine paper.

a. Free from impurities.

b. Metallurgy Containing pure metal in a specified proportion or amount: gold 21 carats fine.

4. Very sharp; keen: a blade with a fine edge.

5. Thin; slender: fine hairs.

6. Carefully or delicately made or done: fine china. See Synonyms at exquisite.

7. Consisting of very small particles; not coarse: fine dust.

a. Marginally different or subtle: a fine difference.

b. Able to make or detect effects of great subtlety or precision; sensitive: has a fine eye for color.

9. Trained to the highest degree of physical efficiency: a fine racehorse.

10. Characterized by refinement or elegance: people in the finest society.

11. Satisfactory; acceptable: Handing in your paper on Monday is fine.

12. Being in a state of satisfactory health; quite well: "How are you?" "I'm fine."

13. Used as an intensive: a fine mess.

adv.

1. Finely.

2. Informal Very well: doing fine.

tr. & intr.v. fined, fin·ing, fines

To make or become finer, purer, or cleaner.

[Middle English fin, from Old French, from Latin fīnis, end, supreme degree.]

fine′ness n.

fine²

(fīn)

1. A sum of money required to be paid especially to the government as a penalty for an offense.

2. Obsolete An end; a termination.

tr.v. fined, fin·ing, fines

To require the payment of a fine from; impose a fine on.

Idiom:

in fine

1. In conclusion; finally.

2. In summation; in brief.

[Middle English fin, from Old French, settlement, compensation, from Medieval Latin fīnis, from Latin, end.]

fin′a·ble, fine′a·ble adj.

fi·ne³

(fē′nā)

n. Music

The end.

[Italian, from Latin fīnis, end.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

fineness

(ˈfaɪnnɪs)

1. the state or quality of being fine

2. (Metallurgy) a measurement of the purity of precious metal, expressed as the number of parts per thousand that is precious metal

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

fine•ness

(ˈfaɪn nɪs)

n.

1. the state or quality of being fine.

2. the proportion of pure precious metal in an alloy, often expressed in parts per thousand.

[1400–50]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	fineness - the quality of being very good indeed; "the inn is distinguished by the fineness of its cuisine" choiceness high quality, superiority - the quality of being superior
	2.	fineness - the property of being very narrow or thin; "he marvelled at the fineness of her hair" thinness narrowness - the property of being narrow; having little width; "the narrowness of the road"
	3.	fineness - having a very fine texture; "the fineness of the sand on the beach" powderiness smoothness - a texture without roughness; smooth to the touch; "admiring the slim smoothness of her thighs"; "some artists prefer the smoothness of a board"
	4.	fineness - the quality of being beautiful and delicate in appearance; "the daintiness of her touch"; "the fineness of her features" daintiness, delicacy elegance - a refined quality of gracefulness and good taste; "she conveys an aura of elegance and gentility"

fineness

noun

The quality of being exceptionally good of its kind:

excellence, superbness, superiority.

Translations

finezza

fineness

[ˈfaɪnnɪs] N

1. (= thinness) [of thread, hair] → lo fino, lo delgado

2. (= excellent quality) → excelente calidad f

3. (= delicacy) → exquisitez f, lo delicado
observe the fineness of detail in the painting → observe la exquisitez de los detalles en el cuadro

4. (= precision) → precisión f

5. (= purity) [of metal] → pureza f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

fineness

(= beauty, pleasantness) → Schönheit f

(= high quality) → Güte f; (of mind, novel) → Großartigkeit f; (= elegance, delicacy) → Feinheit f; (of material) → Zartheit f

(of sieve, net, mesh) → Feinmaschigkeit f; (of dust, sand) → Feinheit f

(= thinness) → Feinheit f, → Dünnheit f; (of nib) → Spitze f; the fineness of the print → die kleine Schrift

(of metal) → Feingehalt m

(of adjustment, distinction) → Feinheit f

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

fineness

[ˈfaɪnnɪs] n (of silk) → finezza, sottigliezza

References in classic literature ?

The curate took the coral beads from her neck and examined them again and again, and having satisfied himself as to their fineness he fell to wondering afresh, and said, "By the gown I wear I don't know what to say or think of these letters and presents; on the one hand I can see and feel the fineness of these coral beads, and on the other I read how a duchess sends to beg for a couple of dozen of acorns."

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The rest of my cattle I got safe ashore, and set them a-grazing in a bowling-green at Greenwich, where the fineness of the grass made them feed very heartily, though I had always feared the contrary:

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To penalize a yacht in proportion to the fineness of her performance is unfair to the craft and to her men.

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It was just for this fineness of perception, for this delicacy, that Darya Alexandrovna liked Levin.

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Its merits as a prepartion for the hair are undeniable--it imparts to it a superb gloss and a silky fineness.

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Jane Porter was glad that it was to be so, and in her heart of hearts she wondered at the marvelous fineness of character of this wondrous man, who, though raised by brutes and among brutes, had the true chivalry and tenderness which only associates with the refinements of the highest civilization.

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Her lower features--the nose, mouth, and chin-- possessed the fineness and delicacy of form which is oftener seen among women of foreign races than among women of English birth.

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And John Barleycorn puts out the fire, and soddens the agility, and, when he does not more immediately kill them or make maniacs of them, he coarsens and grossens them, twists and malforms them out of the original goodness and fineness of their natures.

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Its skin, chestnut-brown above and silvery underneath, would have made one of those beautiful furs so sought after in the Russian and Chinese markets: the fineness and the lustre of its coat would certainly fetch L80.

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Of what moment was it to me, in filling the destiny of the linum usitatissimum, whether I grew in a soil a little more or a little less fertile; whether my fibres attained the extremest fineness known to the manufacturer, or fell a little short of this excellence.

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A table for eight, and eight canvas chairs; a table-cloth and napkins whose whiteness and whose fineness laughed to scorn the things we were used to in the great excursion steamer; knives and forks, soup- plates, dinner-plates--every thing, in the handsomest kind of style.

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All the deliciousness and fineness of a finely bred woman was hers; but, for all he could discern, her mental processes were sexless and boyish.

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