as in improves
to make better
worked on refining her backhand before the big tennis match
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Recent Examples of refines
This immersive exchange builds empathy, refines messaging around real objections and creates a continuous feedback loop—aligning tactics, sharing ownership and driving measurable revenue growth.
—
Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
The high milk content and prolonged conching (which refines and polishes the chocolate) of this 33 percent bar results in melt-in-your-mouth creaminess.
—Rebecca L. Rhoades, Saveur, 20 Aug. 2025
India buys Russian oil at a discount due to sanctions, refines it into gasoline and diesel, and then sells the product back to regions that have sanctioned Moscow such as Europe, said Matt Smith, an oil market analyst at Kpler.
—Spencer Kimball, CNBC, 19 Aug. 2025
As Ukraine experiments with swarms of autonomous interceptors and Russia refines jamming tactics, both sides are betting on training pipelines that can absorb new hardware in months, not years.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 4 Aug. 2025
Pretraining is where most of the number crunching happens, and what follows is usually fine-tuning, which refines the model for specific tasks.
—Dina Genkina, IEEE Spectrum, 4 June 2025
Using the South Shore Cultural Center, a lakeshore landmark with rich historical and architectural significance, as a point of departure, Dyson extracts, reduces, and refines architectural and visual cues into geometric shapes and painterly abstractions.
—Chadd Scott, Forbes, 21 Dec. 2024
Joaquin Phoenix refines his Oscar-winning turn as psychotic urban vigilante/revenge killer Arthur Fleck, this time revealing his insanity through pop songs.
—Armond White, National Review, 29 Nov. 2024
The v2 refines the footwear style with a fresh outsole, midsole and upper in addition to upper mesh offering greater breathability, a bigger heel clip enhancing stability as well as an external shank underfoot providing extra torsional stability.
—Jaden Thompson, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
Expert Panel®, Forbes.com, 27 Aug. 2025
The high milk content and prolonged conching (which refines and polishes the chocolate) of this 33 percent bar results in melt-in-your-mouth creaminess.
—Rebecca L. Rhoades, Saveur, 20 Aug. 2025
India buys Russian oil at a discount due to sanctions, refines it into gasoline and diesel, and then sells the product back to regions that have sanctioned Moscow such as Europe, said Matt Smith, an oil market analyst at Kpler.
—Spencer Kimball, CNBC, 19 Aug. 2025
As Ukraine experiments with swarms of autonomous interceptors and Russia refines jamming tactics, both sides are betting on training pipelines that can absorb new hardware in months, not years.
—Kaif Shaikh, Interesting Engineering, 4 Aug. 2025
Pretraining is where most of the number crunching happens, and what follows is usually fine-tuning, which refines the model for specific tasks.
—Dina Genkina, IEEE Spectrum, 4 June 2025
Using the South Shore Cultural Center, a lakeshore landmark with rich historical and architectural significance, as a point of departure, Dyson extracts, reduces, and refines architectural and visual cues into geometric shapes and painterly abstractions.
—Chadd Scott, Forbes, 21 Dec. 2024
Joaquin Phoenix refines his Oscar-winning turn as psychotic urban vigilante/revenge killer Arthur Fleck, this time revealing his insanity through pop songs.
—Armond White, National Review, 29 Nov. 2024
The v2 refines the footwear style with a fresh outsole, midsole and upper in addition to upper mesh offering greater breathability, a bigger heel clip enhancing stability as well as an external shank underfoot providing extra torsional stability.
—Jaden Thompson, Footwear News, 3 Sep. 2019
Recent Examples of Synonyms for refines
Verb
-
At the same time, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is among those who forecast 50% of entry-level jobs may be wiped out by AI as the technology improves, including being able to work eight-hour shifts without a break.—
Trevor Laurence Jockims,
CNBC,
7 Sep. 2025
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Maria’s relationship with Sylvia improves, as well as with the deputy head Sam (Jacob Anderson, completely unrecognizable from his Game of Thrones era), with whom Maria used to be in a romantic relationship.—
Leslie Felperin,
HollywoodReporter,
7 Sep. 2025
Verb
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Jen Serena’s expertise in photography enhances their work, bringing a refined sense of detail and composition to their films.—
Matthew Carey,
Deadline,
2 Sep. 2025
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Ensuring your trees are located in a spot that receives plenty of bright light throughout the day enhances the growth of your trees and encourages them to produce a good fruit set.—
Lauren Landers,
Better Homes & Gardens,
2 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Refines.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/refines. Accessed 9 Sep. 2025.
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