1. (used of persons and their behaviour) cultivated and genteel
   "she was delicate and refined and unused to hardship"; "refined people with refined taste"
    
2. Showing a high degree of refinement and the assurance that comes from wide social experience
   "his refined manner";
   - polished, urbane
    
3. Suggesting taste, ease, and wealth
   "The elegant dinner party showcased their refined tastes";
   - elegant, graceful
    
4. Freed from impurities by processing
   "refined oil"; "to gild refined gold"; "refined sugar";
   - processed
    
5. Precise to a fine degree
   "due to the limitations of the available tools, a more refined analysis of the data may be necessary"

1. Reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; separate from extraneous matter or cleanse from impurities
   "refine sugar";
   - rectify
    
2. Improve or perfect by pruning or polishing
   "refine one's style of writing";
   - polish, fine-tune, down [informal]
    
3. Make more complex, intricate, or rich
   "refine a design or pattern";
   - complicate, rarify [rare], elaborate, rarefy
    
4. Treat or prepare so as to put in a usable condition
   "refine oil"; "refine paper stock"; "refine pig iron"
    
5. Make more precise or increase the discriminatory powers of
   "refine a method of analysis"; "refine the constant in the equation"
    
6. Attenuate or reduce in vigour, strength, or intensity by polishing or purifying
   "many valuable nutrients are refined out of the foods in our modern diet"

See also: civilised [Brit], civilized, couth, cultivated, cultured, debonair, debonaire [rare], debonnaire [rare], delicate, effete, elegant, fastidious, finespun, genteel, gentlemanlike, gentlemanly, gracious, ladylike, mincing, niminy-piminy, overrefined, patrician, polished, polite, precise, prim, sophisticated, suave, superfine, twee [Brit], well-bred, well-mannered

Type of: alter, ameliorate, amend, attenuate, better, change, distil [Brit], distill [N. Amer], improve, meliorate, mend, modify, process, purify, sublimate, treat

Antonym: unrefined

Encyclopedia: Refined, bleached and deodorized palm oil