Meaning of “refinement” in the English Dictionary

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"refinement" in English

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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

(Definition of “refinement” from the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

"refinement" in American English

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refinementnoun [ C/U ]

us ​ /rɪˈfɑɪn·mənt/

› the process of improving something:

[ C ] The accuracy of the machine has been increased through a number of refinements.
[ U ] The refinement of sugar cane produces sugar.

› Refinement also means means the quality of politeness seen in someone's behavior:

[ U ] She grew up in a home environment of culture and refinement.

(Definition of “refinement” from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

"refinement" in Business English

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refinementnoun

uk ​ /rɪˈfaɪnmənt/ us ​

› [ U ] PRODUCTION 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%.
Long-term cost reductions will be achieved through the refinement of operations.

(Definition of “refinement” from the Cambridge Business English Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

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