REFINING Synonyms: 57 Similar and Opposite Words

refining

verb

present participle of refine

as in improving

to make better worked on refining her backhand before the big tennis match

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of refining Chili For the past two years, Wolf has been refining her chili recipe. — Taylor Mims, Billboard, 7 Oct. 2026 Debeurme approached them after refining his concept with his teams and broadcasting partners, and the Navy authorities eventually proved easy to convince. — Kevin Giraud, Variety, 7 Oct. 2026 Indonesia imposed a ban on nickel ore exports to encourage smelters to move refining operations to the country; the country is now pushing to attract more of the EV value chain, including car and battery manufacturing. — Angelica Ang, Fortune, 5 Oct. 2026 Organizations should treat profiles as living assets, refining them as markets evolve. — Adam Feiner, Forbes.com, 5 Oct. 2026 Sunkyong sought to control more of its supply chain, from securing and refining petroleum to producing the materials used in its textile businesses. — Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Oct. 2026 With the election a little more than a month away, candidates for Florida governor are refining their messages to sway voters on the state's property insurance crisis. — Joan Murray, CBS News, 29 Sep. 2026 IonQ attributes this feat to its dual decoder architecture, where the first decoder extracts the initial syndrome measurements while the second decoder corrects the residual errors after refining the intermediate representation. — Ameya Paleja, Interesting Engineering, 23 Sep. 2026 Founded in 2022, The Alloy Market makes money by either refining unusable materials and taking a cut, or by listing usable items on their online resale marketplace. — Liz Knueven, CNBC, 23 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for refining

Verb

Boston Dynamics’ approach focuses on improving the connection between engineering and manufacturing, with faster component production and assembly intended to support more rapid development.

— Jijo Malayil, Interesting Engineering, 15 Oct. 2026
Seaport upgrades Ralliant to buy from neutral Seaport said the outlook is improving.

— Michael Bloom, CNBC, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of improving

Verb

Among the felony charges Textor faces are five counts of fraud against a financial institution, 13 counts of forgery, two counts of counterfeiting, five counts of fraud and seven counts of fraud with enhancing circumstances.

— Sara Tenenbaum, CBS News, 16 Oct. 2026
Despite this, national reports indicate continued use of performance- and appearance-enhancing drugs, and increasing interest in them.

— New Atlas, New Atlas, 14 Oct. 2026

Definition of enhancing

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refines

refining

refit

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“Refining.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/refining. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of refining

verb

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