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
Forbes.com, 5 June 2025
Also, senior students presented their collections to a jury of international fashion industry leaders at the historic and refurbished Michigan Central Station.
—Rosemary Feitelberg, Footwear News, 5 June 2025
Meanwhile, Allen did some investigative reporting, running through equipment checklists from Earhart’s California-Hawaii flight to see how carefully the Electra had been refurbished since the crash.
—Laurie Gwen Shapiro, New Yorker, 2 June 2025
Its workers have refurbished some of the country’s most beloved merry-go-rounds, including the carousel at the Washington National Cathedral.
—Christopher Cann, USA Today, 26 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 14 Jun. 2025.
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refurbish
verb
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