Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Free from coarseness or vulgarity; polite.
- adj. Free of impurities; purified.
- adj. Precise to a fine degree.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Purified; elevated; cultivated; subtle: as. a refined taste; a refined discrimination; refined society.
- Very exact or precise; perfect or correct in details.
Wiktionary
- adj. Showing or having good feelings or good taste.
- adj. An absence of coarseness.
- adj. Not vulgar.
- adj. Without impurities.
- v. simple past tense and past participle of refine.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Freed from impurities or alloy; purifed; polished; cultured; delicate; as;
refined gold;refined language;refined sentiments.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. showing a high degree of refinement and the assurance that comes from wide social experience
- adj. free from what is tawdry or unbecoming
- adj. suggesting taste, ease, and wealth
- adj. freed from impurities by processing
- adj. (used of persons and their behavior) cultivated and genteel
Examples
“These soft-spoken elements are what I call refined.”
“You come along with me and I'll introduce you (he's not what you call a refined sort of feller, yer know, 'he explained forbearingly,' but still we've always been friends in a way); you can't stop?”
“He was very refined in his conversation -- at least, what I call refined -- for he was one of those persons in whose society one is comfortable from the certainty that they will never say anything which can shock other people, or hurt their feelings, be they ever so fastidious or sensitive.”
“Webster’s defines the word refined as “free from impurities.””
“Several cotton blouses looked refined from the front, but left the back bare — a trick he used in this season's No. 21 line as well.”
“However, Norman Residence is an exotic-looking wooden house covered not only in refined cedar but also in glass and hardipanel.”
“Mr. McCain refined his position to focus on securing the borders first before tackling other immigration questions.”
McCain Ad Reaches Out to Hispanics - The Caucus Blog - NYTimes.com
“I had to jump over to the dictionary to look up the word refined to make sure we are all on the same page.”
“* A diet high in refined carbohydrates and other "fabricated" foods leads to both increased weight and increased inflammation.”
“A diet high in refined cereals, and bread in particular, is associated with an elevated risk of renal cell carcinoma (RCC), the main type of kidney cancer, according to a study in Italy.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘refined’.
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Academic Vocabulary
Use these and get promoted
abandon, abandonment, abnormally, abstract, abstraction, abstractly, abstracts, academia, academic, academically, academics, academies and 3092 more...
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Words related to knowledge
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revelation, eureka, awakening, idea, sapient, astute, canny, intelligent, wise, sharp, shrewd, informed and 466 more...
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Metallics
Words that relate to or describe metals.
malleable, ductile, shiny, steely, brassy, dull, golden, precious, smelt, smith, tensile, clink and 39 more...
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Her
beautiful, lovely, magnificent, exquisite, marvelous, charming, delicate, delightful, elegant, divine, resplendant, radiant and 6 more...
madmouth "...
they speak whatever's on their mind
they do whatever's in their pants
the boys i mean are not refined
they shake the mountains when they dance"
e.e. cummings Sep 16, 2009