refinement
Other forms: refinements
Do you know which fork is for your salad and which one is for dessert? Then you have some refinement — good manners and taste.
Things that go through a process of refinement have been refined; they've lost their rough edges. For people, this means they have good manners, and for substances like oil and sugar, it means that their impurities have been removed. With refinement, things and people become more acceptable: the sugar's refinement makes it appropriate to serve at a fancy party, and your refinement makes you a perfect guest there.
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the result of improving something
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a highly developed state of perfection; having a flawless or impeccable quality“I admired the exquisite refinement of his prose”synonyms: cultivation, culture, finish, polish
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the quality of excellence in thought and manners and taste“a man of intellectual refinement”synonyms: civilisation, civilizationtype of:excellencethe quality of excelling; possessing good qualities in high degree
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the process of removing impurities (as from oil or metals or sugar etc.)synonyms: purification, refiningtypes:rectification(chemistry) the process of refinement or purification of a substance by distillationtype of:processingpreparing or putting through a prescribed procedure
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a subtle difference in meaning or opinion or attitude
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Vocabulary lists containing refinement
The author of this satirical essay presents a shocking solution to the problem of poverty in Ireland. Read the full text here. Here is a link to our lists for Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift.
John L O'Sullivan, the columnist who coined the term "Manifest Destiny," puts forward the case for The United States as the chosen nation. O' Sullivan contrasts nations with bloody histories which oppress them with America, which he sees as free of such hindrances and therefore free to march towards the future- the future being America's rightful domain. E-text available here.