refined
adj/ɹɪˈfaɪnd/
9 senses
- 1Sagacious, sometimes (derogatory) oversubtle or feigning…
- 2Subtle, scrupulous, carefully thought out.
- 3Developed, improved.
- 4Elevated and polished.
- 5Elegant, sometimes (derogatory) affected, prissy, or bloodless.
- 6Highly-processed and pure.
- 7Free of dross or alloy.
- 8Morally pure.
- 9Dealing in a refined product such as sugar or petroleum.
› Precise, freed from imprecision
1
Obsolete, Of people Sagacious, sometimes (derogatory) oversubtle or feigning sagacity.
2
Of thought Subtle, scrupulous, carefully thought out.
- The argument, while not persuasive, is quite refined.
3
Of processes Developed, improved.
- The curriculum has been carefully refined to meet the needs of foreign students.
› Cultured, freed from vulgarity
4
Of language Elevated and polished.
- In the British Isles, Oxbridge is considered refined; Geordie somewhat less so.
5
Of people Elegant, sometimes (derogatory) affected, prissy, or bloodless.
- Don Draper was a man of refined tastes.
- "Jesus Christ! Was my folks refined. My mam she wouldn't think-a lettin' us young'uns call a pee pot a pee pot. A chamber's what she called it... And by God! Us young'uns had ter call the pee pot a chamber or git our God damn necks wrang."1946, Elizabeth Metzger Howard, Before the Sun Goes Down, page 31:
› Purified, reduced in or freed from impurities
6
Of products Highly-processed and pure.
- Under current guidelines, refined sugar must be at least five times purer than its raw counterpart.
7
Of metal Free of dross or alloy.
- The Temple at Jerusalem preferred Tyrian shekels, since even with Ba'al's portrait they bore highly refined silver.
8
Obsolete, Of people Morally pure.
9
Of a market Dealing in a refined product such as sugar or petroleum.
- Derived terms
- biorefined, refinedly, refinedness, refined sugar, semirefined, superrefined, ultrarefined, unrefined