refine

Verb

refine (third-person singular simple present refines, present participle refining, simple past and past participle refined)

1. (transitive) To purify; reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from impurities.
   • to refine gold
   • to refine iron
2. (intransitive) To become pure; to be cleared of impure matter.
3. (transitive) To purify of coarseness, vulgarity, inelegance, etc.; to polish.
   • to refine someone's manners
   • to refine a language
4. (ambitransitive) To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence.
   • My dear Harriet, you must not refine too much upon this charade.—You will betray your feelings improperly, if you are too conscious and too quick, and appear to affix more meaning, or even quite all the meaning which may be affixed to it.1815, Jane Austen, Emma, volume I, chapter 9
   • Adjust the volume, tweak the contours, refine the timing and, if need be, fiddle with the setting, and the hoariest yuck-fest can seem as dewy as a morning in May. Examples of tales told ticklingly are in unusual abundance here, with comedies for every taste within the mainstream of London theater.2007 August 2, Ben Brantley, “Titters, Snickers and Guffaws, With a British Accent”, in New York Times
5. (transitive) To make nice or subtle.
   • to refine thought
   • to refine someone's language