| Library / English Dictionary |
REFINEMENT
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
The quality of excellence in thought and manners and taste
Example:
he is remembered for his generosity and civilization
Synonyms:
civilisation; civilization; refinement
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("refinement" is a kind of...):
excellence (the quality of excelling; possessing good qualities in high degree)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude
Example:
don't argue about shades of meaning
Synonyms:
nicety; nuance; refinement; shade; subtlety
Classified under:
Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents
Hypernyms ("refinement" is a kind of...):
import; meaning; significance; signification (the message that is intended or expressed or signified)
Derivation:
refine (make more precise or increase the discriminatory powers of)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The result of improving something
Example:
he described a refinement of this technique
Synonyms:
elaboration; refinement
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("refinement" is a kind of...):
advance; betterment; improvement (a change for the better; progress in development)
Derivation:
refine (improve or perfect by pruning or polishing)
Sense 4
Meaning:
The process of removing impurities (as from oil or metals or sugar etc.)
Synonyms:
purification; refinement; refining
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural processes
Hypernyms ("refinement" is a kind of...):
processing (preparing or putting through a prescribed procedure)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "refinement"):
rectification ((chemistry) the process of refinement or purification of a substance by distillation)
Derivation:
refine (reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; separate from extraneous matter or cleanse from impurities)
refine (treat or prepare so as to put in a usable condition)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A highly developed state of perfection; having a flawless or impeccable quality
Example:
almost an inspiration which gives to all work that finish which is almost art
Synonyms:
cultivation; culture; finish; polish; refinement
Classified under:
Nouns denoting stable states of affairs
Hypernyms ("refinement" is a kind of...):
flawlessness; ne plus ultra; perfection (the state of being without a flaw or defect)
Derivation:
refine (improve or perfect by pruning or polishing)
Context examples:
Originally perhaps it was applied only to express neatness, propriety, delicacy, or refinement—people were nice in their dress, in their sentiments, or their choice.
(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)
The researchers say that these pseudo-embryos will allow an alternative method to animal research, in accordance with the principle of the ‘3Rs’ (the reduction, replacement and refinement of the use of animals in research).
(Scientists develop mouse ‘embryo-like structures’ with organisation along body’s major axes, University of Cambridge)
Elinor had not needed this to be assured of the injustice to which her sister was often led in her opinion of others, by the irritable refinement of her own mind, and the too great importance placed by her on the delicacies of a strong sensibility, and the graces of a polished manner.
(Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen)
A few months before my arrival they had lived in a large and luxurious city called Paris, surrounded by friends and possessed of every enjoyment which virtue, refinement of intellect, or taste, accompanied by a moderate fortune, could afford.
(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)
My lady, as her friends called her, sincerely desired to be a genuine lady, and was so at heart, but had yet to learn that money cannot buy refinement of nature, that rank does not always confer nobility, and that true breeding makes itself felt in spite of external drawbacks.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
All idle refinement!
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
As to her being a person of refinement and well dressed, they are, as you perceive, handsomely mounted in solid gold, and it is inconceivable that anyone who wore such glasses could be slatternly in other respects.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I must not forget that these coarsely-clad little peasants are of flesh and blood as good as the scions of gentlest genealogy; and that the germs of native excellence, refinement, intelligence, kind feeling, are as likely to exist in their hearts as in those of the best-born.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
I should myself have shrunk from any thing so hasty, and she would have felt every scruple of mine with multiplied strength and refinement.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
He invariably paid the way for both, and it was through him that Martin learned the refinements of food, drank his first champagne, and made acquaintance with Rhenish wines.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
