refinementnoun
uk/rɪˈfaɪn.mənt/us/rɪˈfaɪn.mənt/refinement noun (CHANGE)
[ U ] the process of making a substance pure:
The refinement of raw opium yields other drugs, such as morphine.
[ C or U ] a small change that improves something:
These refinements have increased the machine's accuracy by 25 percent.
Clearly, the hypothesis does need some refinement, in the light of these surprising results.
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
- refine
- 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
Becoming better
Changing
refinement noun (POLITENESS)
[ U ] a quality of politeness and education:
She's the personification of culture and refinement.
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Manners & levels of formality
- buttoned-down
- ceremonial
- ceremonious
- ceremony
- decency
- formal
- formally
- genteel
- gentility
- grace
- ground rules
- impropriety
- not the done thing idiom
- propriety
- pukka
- solemnity
- stand on ceremony idiom
- stiff
- stiffly
- valediction
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