refurbish
verb
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
ArsTechnica, 28 May 2025
This model is quality refurbished, meaning it’s been inspected, cleaned, and tested to work like new.
—New Atlas, 28 May 2025
These operators pay artisans and specialized mechanics top dollar to maintain and refurbish the century-old rides, all in an effort to preserve their original design and craftsmanship.
—Christopher Cann, USA Today, 26 May 2025
SpaceX has so far safely recovered three Super Heavy boosters after launch with the goal of refurbishing and reusing the rocket parts to drive down costs.
—Jackie Wattles, CNN Money, 22 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for refurbish
Cite this Entry
“Refurbish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/refurbish. Accessed 10 Jun. 2025.
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refurbish
verb
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