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fine

Other forms: finest; finer; fined; fines; fining

A fine is a fee you pay when you break the rules, as in not turning in library materials on time, resulting in a fine. As an adjective, fine means "high quality" or "unblemished" like fine china.

If you read music, you know that fine is a spot where the music finishes. Wine, food or porcelain that is exceptionally delicious, well-made, or beautiful is called fine. Fine also means that things are okay or acceptable, like when someone asks how you are and you reply, “I'm fine.” When you are caught doing something wrong, paying a fine, money paid as a penalty, may result.

Definitions of fine
  1. adjective
    free from impurities; having a high or specified degree of purity
    “gold 21 carats fine
    Synonyms:
    pure
    free of extraneous elements of any kind
  2. adjective
    characterized by elegance or refinement or accomplishment
    fine wine”
    “looking fine in her Easter suit”
    “a fine gentleman”
    fine china and crystal”
    “a fine violinist”
    “the fine hand of a master”
    Synonyms:
    elegant
    refined and tasteful in appearance or behavior or style
  3. adjective
    of textures that are smooth to the touch or substances consisting of relatively small particles
    “wood with a fine grain”
    fine powdery snow”
    fine rain”
    “batiste is a cotton fabric with a fine weave”
    “covered with a fine film of dust”
    Synonyms:
    close, tight
    of textiles
    close-grained, fine-grained
    dense or compact in structure or texture, as a wood composed of small-diameter cells
    dustlike
    as fine and powdery as dust
    floury
    resembling flour in fine powdery texture
    nongranular
    not having granules
    fine-grained, powdered, powdery, pulverised, pulverized, small-grained
    consisting of fine particles
    small
    have fine or very small constituent particles
    superfine
    of extremely fine size or texture
    smooth
    having a surface free from roughness or bumps or ridges or irregularities
    see moresee less
    Antonyms:
    coarse, harsh
    of textures that are rough to the touch or substances consisting of relatively large particles
    coarse-grained, large-grained
    not having a fine texture
    coarse-grained, farinaceous, grainy, granular, granulose, gritty, mealy
    composed of or covered with particles resembling meal in texture or consistency
    granulated
    made grainy or formed into granules
    plush-like, plushy
    (of textures) resembling plush
    loose, open
    (of textures) full of small openings or gaps
    rough, unsmooth
    having or caused by an irregular surface
    show more antonyms...
  4. adjective
    thin in thickness or diameter
    “a fine film of oil”
    fine hairs”
    “read the fine print”
    Synonyms:
    thin
    of relatively small extent from one surface to the opposite or in cross section
  5. adjective
    minutely precise especially in differences in meaning
    “a fine distinction”
    Synonyms:
    precise
    sharply exact or accurate or delimited
  6. adjective
    being satisfactory or in satisfactory condition
    “everything's fine
    “dinner and the movies had been fine
    “another minute I'd have been fine
    synonyms: all right, hunky-dory, o.k., ok, okay
    satisfactory
    giving satisfaction
  7. adverb
    in a delicate manner
    “her fine drawn body”
    synonyms: delicately, exquisitely, finely
  8. noun
    money extracted as a penalty
    synonyms: amercement, mulct
    see moresee less
    types:
    library fine
    fine imposed by a library on books that overdue when returned
    type of:
    penalty
    a payment required for not fulfilling a contract
  9. verb
    issue a ticket or a fine to as a penalty
    “I was fined for parking on the wrong side of the street”
    synonyms: ticket
    see moresee less
    types:
    amerce
    punish by a fine imposed arbitrarily by the discretion of the court
    type of:
    book
    record a charge in a police register
  10. adverb
    an expression of agreement normally occurring at the beginning of a sentence
    synonyms: OK, all right, alright, very well
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