different between refined vs matchless

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?i?fa?nd/

Verb

refined

1. simple past tense and past participle of refine

   The raw petroleum was refined into kerosene.

Adjective

refined (comparative more refined, superlative most refined)

1. Precise, freed from imprecision, particularly:
   1. (of people, obsolete) Sagacious, sometimes (derogatory) oversubtle or feigning sagacity.
   2. (of thought) Subtle, scrupulous, carefully thought out.

      The argument, while not persuasive, is quite refined.

   3. (of processes) Developed, improved.

      The curriculum has been carefully refined to meet the needs of foreign students.

2. Cultured, freed from vulgarity, particularly:
   1. (of language) Elevated and polished.

      In the British Isles, Oxbridge is considered refined; Geordie somewhat less so.

   2. (of people) Elegant, sometimes (derogatory) affected, prissy, or bloodless.

      Don Draper was a man of refined tastes.

      • 1946, Elizabeth Metzger Howard, Before the Sun Goes Down, p. 31:

        "Jesus Christ! Was my folks refined. My mam she wouldn't think-a lettin' us young'uns call a pee pot a pee pot. A chamber's what she called it... And by God! Us young'uns had ter call the pee pot a chamber or git our God damn necks wrang."

3. Purified, reduced in or freed from impurities, particularly:
   1. (of products) Highly-processed and pure.

      Under current guidelines, refined sugar must be at least five times purer than its raw counterpart.

   2. (of metal) Free of dross or alloy.

      The Temple at Jerusalem preferred Tyrian shekels, since even with Ba'al's portrait they bore highly refined silver.

   3. (of people, obsolete) Morally pure.
4. (of a market) Dealing in a refined product such as sugar or petroleum.

Translations

Noun

refined (plural refineds)

1. (finance) The refined form of a commodity, as opposed to its raw or generic form.

   We're still purchasing copper ore, but the market for refined is weaker.

Anagrams

• definer, e-friend, enfired, fendier

English

Etymology 1

From match +? -less, modelled after or partly continuing Middle English makeless (“having no peer or equal, matchless”), equivalent to make +? -less. Compare Swedish makalös (“incomparable, matchless”), Danish mageløs (“matchless”).

Adjective

matchless (comparative more matchless, superlative most matchless)

1. Having no match; without equal.
   • 1819, Sir Walter Scott, Ivanhoe, ch. 8:

     [T]he Prince was to declare the victor in the first day's tourney, who should receive as prize a warhorse of exquisite beauty and matchless strength.

   • 2002, Daniel Okrent, "Books: A Prince of a Pitcher" (Review of: Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy), Time, 30 Sept.:

     It was not his matchless talent that exalted Koufax beyond his greatest contemporaries so much as it was his knowledge that character was not connected to talent.

2. Having no mate.
   • 2010, Sandra Brennan, "Movies: The Flying Matchmaker (1966)," nytimes.com, 1 June (retrieved 13 Sep 2010):

     In this comedy, a matchmaker has a matchless daughter. Try as he might, he cannot seem to find anyone for her.

Synonyms

• (without equal): incomparable, nonpareil, peerless, unequaled, unmatched, unparalleled, unsurpassed
• (having no mate): single, unattached

Derived terms

• matchlessly
• matchlessness

Translations

Etymology 2

match +? -less

Adjective

matchless (not comparable)

1. Without the use of matches for ignition.

   a matchless stove