Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Refinement

Re·fine′ment (r?·f?n′ment), n. [Cf. F. raffinement.] 1. The act of refining, or the state of being refined; as, the refinement or metals; refinement of ideas.

The more bodies are of kin to spirit in subtilty and refinement, the more diffusive are they. Norris.

From the civil war to this time, I doubt whether the corruptions in our language have not equaled its refinements. Swift.

2. That which is refined, elaborated, or polished to excess; an affected subtilty; as, refinements of logic. "The refinements of irregular cunning." Rogers.

Syn. — Purification; polish; politeness; gentility; elegance; cultivation; civilization.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.