HOW TO PRONOUNCE
refine
/ɹəˈfaɪn/
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American Pronunciation Guide · 1:03
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What does refine mean?
verb
- To purify; reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from impurities.
- To become pure; to be cleared of impure matter.
- To purify of coarseness, vulgarity, inelegance, etc.; to polish.
More meanings (2)
verb
- To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence.
- To make nice or subtle.
Definitions regrouped for readability · CC BY-SA 4.0
IPA pronunciation
/ɹəˈfaɪn/
CMU Pronouncing Dictionary ↗Pronunciation varies by speaker and region. About these dictionary pronunciations.
In the pages of books
See this word in context.
Any nobleness begins at once to refine a man’s features, any meanness or sensuality to imbrute them.
Its tendency would be to raise and refine her mind—and it must be saving her from the danger of degradation.
More book examples (3)
Till cunning come to pound and squeeze And clarify,--refine to proof *2* The liquor filtered by degrees, While the world stands aloof.
Preserve in all their purity, refine, if possible, from all their alloy, those virtues which we this day commemorate as the ornament of our forefathers.
The Boccaneri seems to be one of those ladies who refine so much upon debauchery as to make even matrimony enter into their scheme of profligacy.