Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb refine

6 senses of refine

Sense 1
polish, refine, fine-tune, down -- (improve or perfect by pruning or polishing; "refine one's style of writing")
       => better, improve, amend, ameliorate, meliorate -- (to make better; "The editor improved the manuscript with his changes")

Sense 2
complicate, refine, rarify, elaborate -- (make more complex, intricate, or richer; "refine a design or pattern")
       => change, alter, modify -- (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue")

Sense 3
refine -- (treat or prepare so as to put in a usable condition; "refine paper stock"; "refine pig iron"; "refine oil")
       => process, treat -- (subject to a process or treatment, with the aim of readying for some purpose, improving, or remedying a condition; "process cheese"; "process hair"; "treat the water so it can be drunk"; "treat the lawn with chemicals" ; "treat an oil spill")

Sense 4
refine, rectify -- (reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; separate from extraneous matter or cleanse from impurities; "refine sugar")
       => purify, sublimate, make pure, distill -- (remove impurities from, increase the concentration of, and separate through the process of distillation; "purify the water")

Sense 5
refine -- (attenuate or reduce in vigor, strength, or validity by polishing or purifying; "many valuable nutrients are refined out of the foods in our modern diet")
       => attenuate -- (become weaker, in strength, value, or magnitude)

Sense 6
refine -- (make more precise or increase the discriminatory powers of; "refine a method of analysis"; "refine the constant in the equation")
       => change, alter, modify -- (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue")