Refining

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. Improving the purity or quality of a substance or material by removing unwanted elements
2. Enhancing the condition of something by extracting impurities or unwanted parts
3. Making a substance or material cleaner and of better quality by a process of purification

Etymology: "Refining" is the present participle and gerund of "refine," so its history is really the history of the verb. "Refine" combines the prefix "re-" with "fine," the adjective meaning pure or free of impurities, which descends from Latin "finis" (end, boundary) because a substance was considered finished once its dross was removed. The verb reached English through Old French, which had formed "rafiner" from the same elements, and it entered Middle English with the sense of making metal or other substances pure by removing what is foreign to them. The surprising part is how the core idea of "fine" has changed. Our word "fine" in the sense of thin or delicate and the sense of excellent both trace back to that same root, so "refining" carries an older picture of completion: a metal freed of its impurities has, in a sense, reached its end state. The metaphorical extension to manners, taste and language grew from that literal process of purification.

Synonyms: purifying, improving, enhancing, clarifying, polishing

Antonyms: contaminating, degrading, deteriorating, polluting, complicating