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1. The process of removing impurities (as from oil, metals or sugar etc.)
   - refinement, purification

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

Derived forms: refinings

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

Encyclopedia: Refining