refinement

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re·fine·ment

(rĭ-fīn′mənt)

1. The act of refining.

2. The result of refining; an improvement or elaboration.

3. The state or quality of being refined; cultivation, as in manners or taste.

4. A keen or precise phrasing; a subtle distinction.

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.

refinement

(rɪˈfaɪnmənt)

1. the act of refining or the state of being refined

2. a fine or delicate point, distinction, or expression; a subtlety

3. fineness or precision of thought, expression, manners, etc; polish or cultivation

4. a device, change, adaptation, etc, designed to improve performance or increase efficiency

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

re•fine•ment

(rɪˈfaɪn mənt)

n.

1. fineness or elegance of feeling, taste, manners, language, etc.

2. an instance of this.

3. the act or process of refining.

4. the quality or state of being refined.

5. a subtle point or distinction.

6. an improved form of something.

7. a detail or device added to improve something.

[1605–15]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun	1.	refinement - a highly developed state of perfection; having a flawless or impeccable quality; "they performed with great polish"; "I admired the exquisite refinement of his prose"; "almost an inspiration which gives to all work that finish which is almost art"--Joseph Conrad polish, finish, cultivation, culture flawlessness, ne plus ultra, perfection - the state of being without a flaw or defect
	2.	refinement - the result of improving something; "he described a refinement of this technique" elaboration betterment, improvement, advance - a change for the better; progress in development
	3.	refinement - the process of removing impurities (as from oil or metals or sugar etc.) refining, purification processing - preparing or putting through a prescribed procedure; "the processing of newly arrived immigrants"; "the processing of ore to obtain minerals" rectification - (chemistry) the process of refinement or purification of a substance by distillation
	4.	refinement - a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude; "without understanding the finer nuances you can't enjoy the humor"; "don't argue about shades of meaning" nuance, subtlety, nicety, shade meaning, signification, import, significance - the message that is intended or expressed or signified; "what is the meaning of this sentence"; "the significance of a red traffic light"; "the signification of Chinese characters"; "the import of his announcement was ambiguous"
	5.	refinement - the quality of excellence in thought and manners and taste; "a man of intellectual refinement"; "he is remembered for his generosity and civilization" civilisation, civilization excellence - the quality of excelling; possessing good qualities in high degree

refinement

noun

1. subtlety, nuance, nicety, fine point the refinements of the game

2. sophistication, finish, style, culture, taste, breeding, polish, grace, discrimination, courtesy, civilization, precision, elegance, delicacy, cultivation, finesse, politeness, good manners, civility, gentility, good breeding, graciousness, urbanity, fastidiousness, fineness, courtliness, politesse a girl who possessed both dignity and refinement

3. purification, processing, filtering, cleansing, clarification, distillation, rectification, rarefaction the refinement of crude oil

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

refinement

noun

1. The act or process of removing physical impurities:

clarification, purification.

2. High style in quality, manner, or dress:

quality.

Informal: class.

3. Enlightenment and excellent taste resulting from intellectual development:

civilization, cultivation, culture.

4. The ability to distinguish, especially to recognize small differences or draw fine distinctions:

discrimination, selectiveness, selectivity.

Translations

تَحَسُّن، صَقْلرقَّه، دَماثَه، تَهْذيب

kultivovanostzdokonalenízlepšení

eleganceforbedring

Feinheit Veredelung Verfeinerung

perfection raffinement

finomításkifinomultság

betrumbótfágun

eleganza perfezionamento raffinatezza raffinazione

forfinelse

kultivovanosť

geliştirmekibarlık

改进文雅

refinement

[rɪˈfaɪnmənt] N

1. [of person, language] → refinamiento m; [of manners] → educación f, finura f; [of style] → elegancia f, urbanidad f
a person of some refinement → una persona fina

2. (= improvement) → mejora f; (in machine) → perfeccionamiento m

3. (= subtle detail) [of language] → sutileza f
that is a refinement of cruelty → eso es ser más cruel todavía
with every possible refinement of cruelty → con las formas más refinadas de la crueldad

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

refinement

[rɪˈfaɪnmənt] n

[person, manner] → raffinement m

(= improvement) [theory, model, plan] → amélioration f

[oil, sugar] → raffinage m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

refinement

no pl (of metal, oil, sugar) → Raffination f, → Raffinierung f, → Reinigung f

no pl (of person, language, style) → Vornehmheit f, → Feinheit f; a person of evident refinement → ein offensichtlich kultivierter Mensch

(= improvement: in technique, machine etc) → Verfeinerung f, → Verbesserung f (→ in sth +gen)

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

refinement

[rɪˈfaɪnmənt] n (of person, language) → raffinatezza, finezza; (in machine, system) → miglioramento

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

refine

(rəˈfain) verb

1. to make (a substance eg sugar) pure by taking out dirt, waste substances etc. Oil is refined before it is used.

2. to improve. We have refined our techniques considerably since the work began.

reˈfined adjective

(negative unrefined).

1. very polite; well-mannered; elegant.

2. having been refined. refined sugar.

reˈfinement noun

1. good manners, good taste, polite speech etc.

2. (an) improvement. to make refinements.

reˈfinery – plural reˈfineries – noun

a place where sugar or oil etc is refined. an oil refinery.

References in classic literature ?

(thought I to myself) What a total want of delicate refinement must he have, who can thus shock our senses by such a brutal noise!

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Refinement and luxury have never come in your way, far less have they become indispensable to you.

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She wondered if the culture and refinement she had seen imitated, perhaps grotesquely, by the heroine on the stage, could be acquired by a girl who lived in a tenement house and worked in a shirt factory.

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She enjoyed that form of communication, which gave opportunity for a refinement and air of mystery not afforded by their personal interviews.

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The traveller in the south must often have remarked that peculiar air of refinement, that softness of voice and manner, which seems in many cases to be a particular gift to the quadroon and mulatto women.

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Tell me this: why does it happen that at the very, yes, at the very moments when I am most capable of feeling every refinement of all that is "sublime and beautiful," as they used to say at one time, it would, as though of design, happen to me not only to feel but to do such ugly things, such that ...

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A high degree of refinement, however, does not seem to subdue our wicked propensities so much after all; and were civilization itself to be estimated by some of its results, it would seem perhaps better for what we call the barbarous part of the world to remain unchanged.

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His mind, vulgar in its effort at refinement, saw everything a little larger than life size, with the outlines blurred, in a golden mist of sentimentality.

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Being people of great refinement, they did not want to offend you so deeply as not to allow you the honor of paying the bill."

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The superior refinement of his face was much more striking than that of Arthur's when seen in comparison with the people round them.

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The poor creature was no ordinary native girl, but a person of great, I had almost said stately, beauty, and of considerable refinement of mind.

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Even the literary tchinovnik gives such parties in his room--though, in his case, everything is done delicately and with a certain refinement, so that the thing has something of a retiring and innocent air.