refinementn.
/rᵻˈfʌɪnm(ə)nt/, U.S. /rəˈfaɪnm(ə)nt/, /riˈfaɪnm(ə)nt/ 1.
a. Generally: the process of refining or purifying something. Also: the result of refining, or an instance of this; the state of being refined. Now only as in senses 1b and 2a.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > freedom from impurities > removal of impurities > [noun]
purginga1382
expurgationc1420
purgationc1425
undefoilingc1425
purgement1483
sublimating1559
sweetening1591
purgatory1596
purification1597
purge1598
depuration1603
refinement1611
castigation1615
lustrationc1635
purifaction1652
refreshing1719
depurating1762
epuration1800
neatifying1826
vastation1847
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > improvement > [noun] > purification or refinement
polishingc1400
mellowing1528
smoothing1577
polishment1594
refinement1611
alembication1616
lustrationc1635
purification1753
burnishing1780
smoothification1799
limation1852
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Raffinage, the refinement, or quintescence of.
1659 H. More Immortality of Soul iii. i The Soul of Man is capable of very high refinements, even to a condition purely Angelical.
1688 R. Boyle Disquis. Final Causes ii. 85 The renovation and refinement of the present world by the last fire.
1709 R. Steele Tatler No. 108. ⁋7 Religion which does not only promise the entire Refinement of the Mind, but the glorifying of the Body.
1764 O. Goldsmith Traveller 12 For, as refinement stops, from sire to son Unalter'd, unimprov'd their manners run.
1807 La Belle Assemblée Aug. 19/2 Suppose that religion actually did exercise this powerful sway over every human heart, will and can it complete the entire refinement of man?
1827 in R. Canfield Light of Truth iv. 248 All this discipline is absolutely necessary for the refinement of the soul.
b. spec. The refining of a substance or product; esp. the removing of impurities or unwanted elements by some process, or series of processes.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > industry > mining > [noun] > other specific mining processes
gadding1753
costeaning1778
refinement1815
rope boring1852
piping1869
chlorination1875
opencasting1886
resue1903
resuing1905
biomining1982
1703 tr. P. Dionis Anat. Humane Bodies Improv'd 169 A further addition to its [sc. the blood's] refinement accrues from the windings and turnings of these Pipes.
1753 Chambers's Cycl. Suppl. at Aninga A root growing in the Carribee islands, of use in the refinement of sugar.
1815 J. Scott Visit to Paris App. p. xxxvii The refinement of nitre, from its rough state in the nitre bed, to the packing of the pure salt in casks.
1873 A. W. Ward tr. E. Curtius Hist. Greece I. i. iii. 91 The earth used for the refinement of copper was called Cadmic earth.
1929 Times 27 Aug. 6 The refinement of flour to that extreme extent which deprives it of its most nourishing..qualities.
1979 Associated Press Newswire (Nexis) 7 Apr. Yellow cake, which after further refinement becomes reactor fuel, could cause lung cancer if breathed.
2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 5 Oct. i. 12/3 (table) Rapid pipeline repair team, $55 million. Four topping plants, the first stage in oil refinement, $125 million.
2.
a. The improvement, modification, or clarification of a faculty, product, mechanism, etc., esp. by way of a series of small changes.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > improvement > [noun] > improvement by degrees
graduation1643
refinement1659
1659 W. Montagu Shepheard's Paradise 62 So our second love is a degree wherein our soules attaine to experience that imploys it selfe in loves refinement. So not by the first step, but by this gradation, Love ascends unto its highest.
1776 A. Smith Inq. Wealth of Nations I. iii. iii. 491 The gradual refinement of those houshold and coarser manufactures which must at all times be carried on even in the poorest and rudest countries. View more context for this quotation
1838 Biblical Repertory Apr. 287 At every step of the scale in tracing..[the brain's] gradual refinement, we find each successive improvement marked by some addition or enlargement of the powers of the animal.
1898 Econ. Jrnl. 8 480 It is clear that this process admits of considerable refinement.
1938 Times 3 Mar. 19/2 The ideal will be more and more closely approached by gradual refinement of the constructional methods.
1998 Cosmopolitan (U.K. ed.) Aug. 272 (advt.) Eye lid surgery... Abdominal reshaping... Nose refinement.
2004 Business Week 19 July 85/3 Early robots are undergoing continual refinement.
b. As a count noun: an advance towards something more refined; an improvement, modification, or clarification of something by the making of small changes. Also: a state arrived at, or thing obtained, in this way.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > improvement > [noun] > purification or refinement > instance of
refinement1672
1672 H. Oldenburg Let. 2 May in I. Newton Corr. (1959) I. 150 I received a printed account from Paris, wch relateth to your Telescopes, and pretends to have lighted upon a refinement of ym.
1691 A. Wood Athenæ Oxonienses I. 62 This Book was..published again with some alterations, refinements, and corrections from the errors of the former translation.
1710 J. Swift in J. Swift & R. Steele Tatler No. 230 The Breaks at the End of almost every Sentence; of which I know not the Use, only that it is a Refinement.
1841 M. Elphinstone Hist. India II. xii. ii. 595 All the refinements of his artful policy.
1851 Penrose Princ. Athenian Arch. (title page) The optical refinements exhibited in the construction of the ancient buildings.
1871 E. A. Freeman Hist. Norman Conquest (1876) IV. xviii. 156 A countermine was a refinement beyond their skill.
1937 Autocar Handbk. (ed. 13) vi. 108 Syncromesh..rendered double declutching a refinement but no longer a necessity.
1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 26 Jan. (Suppl.) 4/1 A wash boiler with all refinements except a pump.
1988 Music & Lett. 69 554 Many pages contain subtle modifications and refinements.
2002 Times 11 Feb. ii. 18/1 In a refinement of the angioplasty and stent procedure,..researchers have trialled a drug-coated stent.
c. With on or upon: an improvement on, modification of something.
ΚΠ
1729 W. Law Serious Call xviii. 333 For emulation..is nothing else but a refinement upon envy.
1792 M. Wollstonecraft Vindic. Rights Woman v. 196 Would it not be a refinement on cruelty only to..make the darkness and misery of her fate visible?
1804 S. T. Coleridge Coll. Lett. (1956) II. 1070 Spillekins (Spielchen, or Gamelet, I suppose) a German Refinement on our Jack Straw.
1812 R. C. Hoare Anc. Hist. S. Wilts. 21 Bell Barrow. This..seems to have been a refinement on the Bowl Barrow.
1855 P. Neill Pract. Fruit, Flower & Veg. Gardener's Compan. 107 The form à la Dumoutier..is merely a refinement on the Montrueil method.
1963 Times 1 Oct. 15 It is an ingenious application of a well-known optical illusion, its effect a refinement on what any amusement arcade does with a corridor of mirrors.
2000 L. Forbes Fish, Blood & Bone ii. iv. 157 A..refinement on Gandhi's technique of passive resistance by numbers.
d. With the. The most refined form of something. Also with intensifier. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > quality of being good > perfection > [noun] > most perfect form or manifestation
quintessence1579
fifth-essence1584
sublimity1642
sublime1727
refinement1806
1806 Times 22 July 2 The more he went into the subject, the more he found it the very refinement of peculation.
1852 Internat. Mag. Lit., Art, & Sci. 1 Jan. 380/1 She was surrounded by the utmost refinement of luxury, and lay extended on a chaise lounge.
1880 Christian World No. 1195. 138 It would be the refinement of exquisite cruelty.
1912 C. B. Gulick in H. W. Smyth Harvard Ess. Classical Subj. ii. 37 The very refinement of cruelty is realized in characteristically Oriental fashion in the punishment meted out to one Sisamnes.
3.
a. A feature, custom, or thing indicative of refined manners, feelings, or taste.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > good taste > refinement > [noun] > instance of
nicetya1450
galancie1581
nicery1605
refinement1683
delicacy1728
1683 tr. C. Fleury Manners of Israelites Introd. 3 There was in them [sc. the Israelites] a noble simplicity better than all the Refinements in the world.
1697 K. Chetwood Pref. to Pastorals in J. Dryden tr. Virgil Wks. sig. ***1 With all our fanciful Refinements.
1709 J. Swift Let. conc. Sacramental Test 17 We of Ireland are not yet come up to other Folks Refinements, for we generally Love and Esteem our Clergy.
1714 J. Swift Pres. State Affairs in Wks. (1751) IV. 282 Affecting German Modes and Refinements in Dress or Behaviour.
1794 S. Williams Nat. & Civil Hist. Vermont 151 Not until the refinements of society have taken place.
1819 W. Irving Sketch Bk. i. 8 There were to be seen in the masterpieces of art, the refinements of highly cultivated society.
1833–6 J. H. Newman Hist. Sketches (1873) II. i. i. 39 Timour..had the command of every refinement not only of luxury, but of gluttony.
1903 H. James Ambassadors ii. iv. 52 Is it a refinement not to answer his mother's letters?
1980 S. J. Gould Panda's Thumb (1982) xv. 165 The highest refinements of Chinese society had arisen when European culture still wallowed in barbarism.
2005 Times Lit. Suppl. 18 Mar. 8/2 He regrets that antique courtesies and refinements have been eroded and looks back to a golden age of [etc.].
b. As a mass noun: fineness of feeling, taste, or thought; cultured elegance in behaviour or manner; sophisticated and superior good taste.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > good taste > refinement > [noun]
policya1522
neatness1555
finesse1564
politure1593
polishedness1594
polishment1594
polish1597
polishure1611
refinedness1612
refinement1704
refinery1746
sophistication1915
the world > action or operation > behaviour > good behaviour > [noun] > good manners or polite behaviour > polish or refinement of manners
urbanityc1475
policya1522
gesture1580
politure1593
polishedness1594
facetiousness1644
politeness1655
politesse1683
refinement1704
refinedness1711
polish1713
tournure1748
smoothness1832
1704 J. Swift Tale of Tub Ep. Ded. 7 I was laughed to scorn, for a Clown and a Pedant, devoid of all Taste and Refinement.
1785 W. Cowper Task iv. 359 That sensibility of pain with which Refinement is endued.
1815 J. Scott Visit to Paris xi. 212 Louis le Grand encouraged every thing that shed refinement over the world.
1843 W. H. Prescott Hist. Conquest Mexico I. iii. iv. 420 It is too much to ask of any man..to be in advance of the refinement of his age.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People iii. §5. 139 There was a certain refinement in Henry's temper which won him affection.
1921 J. Galsworthy To Let 263 He had true refinement; he couldn't help thinking of others, whatever he did.
1958 L. de Wohl Francis of Assisi (1960) x. 80 Francis used to be the most fastidious of us all in matters of dress and refinement.
2007 Alef Mag. Spring 83/1 Barneys, the Manhattan mecca of urban refinement.
4.
a. An act of refining in thought, reasoning, or discourse; the result of this; a piece of subtle, or oversubtle, reasoning; a subtlety, a fine distinction. Now rare (in later use passing into sense 2b).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > understanding > reason, faculty of reasoning > misleading argument, sophistry > excessive subtlety, hair-splitting > [noun] > instance of
curiosityc1380
syllogism1387
webc1400
cobweb1579
refinement1692
refinery1746
pilpul1966
1692 W. Molyneux Dioptrica Nova 198 But leaving these Philosophical Refinements; 'tis manifest that Resistance must proceed from Contact of two Bodies.
1708 J. Swift Sentiments Church of Eng.-man i, in Misc. (1711) 107 [To] draw in fresh Proselytes by some further Innovations or Refinements.
1769 ‘Junius’ Stat Nominis Umbra (1772) I. xv. 103 The people of this country are neither to be intimidated by violent measures, nor deceived by refinements.
1825 W. Hazlitt Table-talk (new ed.) II. 283 Sound conclusions come with practical knowledge, rather than with speculative refinements.
1874 R. Brown Man. Bot. i. iii. 60 By an absurd hair-splitting refinement of nomenclature, these one-celled hairs have been classed as a particular type of cellular tissue.
1875 E. White Life in Christ (1878) iii. xxi. 302 No even colourable escape from this criticism seems possible except by refinements unintelligible to the common people.
1915 H. James England at War July in Coll. Travel Writings (1993) 313 The..mind to which I impute these refinements of ponderation.
1979 Washington Post (Nexis) 27 July b1 [He] does not go in for lengthly expostulations,..nor does he weary the intellect with subtle refinements of thought or careful distinctions of motive.
b. The action or practice of refining in thought, reasoning, or discourse; subtle, or oversubtle, reasoning or analysis. Now rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > judgement or decision > discernment, discrimination > [noun] > action of
distinctiona1340
division?c1425
decerninga1535
dignotion1578
differencing1598
discern1599
discernment1615
discrimination1621
refinement1712
differentiation1872
distinguishing1882
differentiating1887
1712 J. Addison Spectator No. 303. ¶13 It is the Poet's Refinement upon this Thought which I most admire.
1714 J. Swift Some Free Thoughts upon Present State Affairs (1741) 3 Opportunities of shewing their Skill in Mystery and Refinement.
1754 J. Edwards Careful Enq. Freedom of Will iv. xiii. 279 There is no high Degree of Refinement and abstruse Speculation, in determining, that a Thing is not before it is.
1823 T. Roscoe tr. J. C. L. de Sismondi Hist. Lit. Europe III. xxvi. 266 He occasionally abandons himself to that refinement and false wit which the Spaniards mistook for the language of passion.
1846 Times 5 Mar. 5 A bad cause cannot be made good by any ingenuity of argument or refinement of sophistry.
1905 Michigan Law Rev. 4 254 The language is clear and concise, and distinctions are for the most part made without too much refinement.
ΚΠ
1712 J. Hughes Spectator No. 525. ⁋6 If Love be any Refinement, Conjugal Love must be certainly so in a much higher Degree.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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