refineverb [ T ]
uk/rɪˈfaɪn/us/rɪˈfaɪn/to make something pure or improve something, especially by removing unwanted material:
Crude oil is industrially refined to purify it and separate out the different elements, such as benzene.
C2 to improve an idea, method, system, etc. by making small changes:
Engineers spent many months refining the software.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Correcting and mending
- clean (sth) up
- correction
- fiddle (around) with sth
- fine-tune
- fix sth up
- lie
- mess
- patch
- reconstruction
- refinement
- refit
- remediate
- remediation
- revised
- smooth
- troubleshooting
- tune
- tune (sth) up
- under repair idiom
- work on sth
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You can also find related words, phrases, and synonyms in the topics:
Industrial processing
Making things better