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 Before Broadway, Parton was hard at work, producers said, refining the musical after its out-of-town tryout in order to give audiences a deeper look at her life than ever before. — Hedy Phillips, PEOPLE, 26 Aug. 2026 Voit’s emphasis this season has been on refining his eye at the plate, on understanding the difference between looking for a pitch and looking for his pitch. — Tim Britton, New York Times, 22 Aug. 2026 That concentrate requires further refining to remove impurities. — Matthew Kayser, USA Today, 21 Aug. 2026 The fact is Gilligan came up with the idea 10 years ago and has been refining it in his head ever since. — Pete Hammond, Deadline, 17 Aug. 2026 As Assistive For High-Value Work When AI acts as an assistant, humans retain decision-making authority and strategic control, shifting time toward deep research, customer consulting, managing multiple AI agents and refining corporate strategy. — Khadim Batti, Forbes.com, 17 Aug. 2026 Google has changed the cameras, durability and charging experience while refining the physical design. — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 15 Aug. 2026 After refining their word-swapping dictionary over three months, the ShieldFont creators ended up with a list of nearly 12,000 common words that can be replaced with ligatures. — Kyle Orland, ArsTechnica, 12 Aug. 2026 Those phases typically involve refining the design, validating performance, and producing an initial batch before larger procurement decisions. — Aamir Khollam, Interesting Engineering, 7 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for refining

Verb

Pawloski said Amazon seemed to invest fewer resources into improving MTurk at the same time as more data labeling services arrived, causing many turkers to shift to competing platforms.

— Annie Palmer, CNBC, 26 Aug. 2026
The broader shift is that AI content quality is improving while the barrier to creation is becoming lower.

— Connie Etemadi, USA Today, 26 Aug. 2026

Definition of improving

Verb

The monthly books are chosen by a committee through the Dollywood Foundation with the goal of enhancing early childhood education.

— Michelle Mullins, Chicago Tribune, 28 Aug. 2026
The organization works to champion aspiring and established storytellers by providing events and services, enhancing public awareness and participation and encouraging community partnerships.

— Isabelle Farina, Variety, 26 Aug. 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 2 Sep. 2026.

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Synonyms of refining

verb

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