refurbish

verb

re·​fur·​bish ri-ˈfər-bish 

refurbished; refurbishing; refurbishes

transitive verb

: to brighten or freshen up : renovate

refurbisher noun

refurbishment

ri-ˈfər-bish-mənt 

noun

Did you know?

As seems proper given how English prefixes work, before you could refurbish something you could furbish it. That shorter word was borrowed into Middle English in the 14th century from Anglo-French as furbisshen; it shares a distant relative with the Old High German verb furben, meaning "to polish." In its earliest uses furbish also meant "to polish," but it developed an extended sense of "to renovate" shortly before English speakers created refurbish with the same meaning in the 17th century. These days refurbish is the more common of the two words, although furbish does continue to be used.

Examples of refurbish in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Knappenberger also refurbished a 1960s vending machine filled with mystery mini prints of four Kansas City landmarks. — Noelle Alviz-Gransee, Kansas City Star, 5 Oct. 2026

Items sent for trade-in go to SELLIT9's partners to be refurbished and resold, donated, or responsibly recycled. — Jon Martindale, PC Magazine, 1 Oct. 2026

The house had fallen into disrepair, and the couple completely refurbished it, preserving the midcentury design. — Wendy Bowman, Robb Report, 30 Sep. 2026

To realize this vision of extremely low-cost launches, SpaceX needs to be able to bring these spacecraft back from orbit, refurbish them and launch them again in short order. — Sven Bilén, The Conversation, 29 Sep. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1611, in the meaning defined above

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Kids Definition

refurbish

verb

re·​fur·​bish ri-ˈfər-bish 

: to brighten or freshen up : renovate

refurbish an old house

refurbishment

-mənt 

noun