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Fine vs Clear - What's the difference?

fine | clear | Synonyms |

Clear is a synonym of fine.



In obsolete terms the difference between fine and clear

is that fine is end; conclusion; termination; extinction while clear is in a clear manner; plainly.

In transitive terms the difference between fine and clear

is that fine is to issue a fine as punishment to (someone) while clear is to obtain permission to use (a sample of copyrighted audio) in another track.

In intransitive terms the difference between fine and clear

is that fine is to pay a fine while clear is of a check or financial transaction, to go through as payment; to be processed so that the money is transferred.

fine

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) fin, from (etyl) .

Adjective

(er)
  • (lb) Of subjective quality.
  • #Of superior quality.
  • #:
  • #*
  • #*:"A fine man, that Dunwody, yonder," commented the young captain, as they parted, and as he turned to his prisoner. "We'll see him on in Washington some day. He is strengthening his forces now against Mr. Benton out there.."
  • #(lb) Being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory.
  • #:
  • #*
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=3 , passage=Now all this was very fine , but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.}}
  • #(lb) Good-looking, attractive.
  • #:
  • #*, chapter=10
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=It was a joy to snatch some brief respite, and find himself in the rectory drawing–room. Listening here was as pleasant as talking; just to watch was pleasant. The young priests who lived here wore cassocks and birettas; their faces were fine and mild, yet really strong, like the rector's face; and in their intercourse with him and his wife they seemed to be brothers.}}
  • #Subtle, delicately balanced.
  • #*The Independent
  • #*:The fine distinction between lender of last resort and a bail-out
  • #(lb) Showy; overdecorated.
  • #*(Matthew Arnold) (1822-1888)
  • #*:He gratified them with occasionalfine writing.
  • #Delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; dexterous.
  • #*(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • #*:The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine !
  • #*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • #*:The nicest and most delicate touches of satire consist in fine raillery.
  • #*(Thomas Gray) (1716-1771)
  • #*:He has as fine a hand at picking a pocket as a woman.
  • (lb) Of objective quality.
  • #Of a particular grade of quality, usually between very good'' and ''very fine'', and below ''mint .
  • #:
  • #(lb) Sunny and not raining.
  • #*, chapter=23
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=If the afternoon was fine they strolled together in the park, very slowly, and with pauses to draw breath wherever the ground sloped upward. The slightest effort made the patient cough.}}
  • #Consisting of especially minute particulate; made up of particularly small pieces.
  • #:
  • #Particularly slender; especially thin, narrow, or of small girth.
  • #:
  • #Made of slender or thin filaments.
  • #:
  • #Having a (specified) proportion of pure metal in its composition.
  • #:
  • (lb) Behind the batsman and at a small angle to the line between the wickets.
  • :
  • (lb) Subtle; thin; tenuous.
  • *(Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
  • *:The eye standeth in the finer medium and the object in the grosser.
  • Synonyms
    * (of superior quality) good, excellent * (informal) (being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory ): all right, ok, , okay, hunky-dory, kosher * (made up of particularly small pieces) fine-grained, powdered, powdery, pulverised, pulverized, small-grained * (made of slender or thin filaments) fine-threaded
    Antonyms
    * (made up of particularly small pieces) coarse * (made of slender or thin filaments) coarse

    Adverb

    (en adverb)
  • expression of agreement
  • well, nicely, in a positive way
  • Everything worked out fine.
    Synonyms
    * (expression of agreement) all right, alright, OK, very well

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Fine champagne; French brandy.
  • * 1926 , Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises , Scribner 2003, p. 14:
  • We had dined at l'Avenue's, and afterward went to the Café de Versailles for coffee. We had several fines after the coffee, and I said I must be going.
  • * 1936 , Djuna Barnes, Nightwood , Faber & Faber 2007, p. 18:
  • He refilled his glass. ‘The fine is very good,’ he said.
  • (usually, in the plural) something that is fine; fine particles
  • * They filtered silt and fines out of the soil.
  • Usage notes
    Particularly used in plural as fines of ground coffee beans in espresso making.
    See also
    * filing

    Verb

    (fin)
  • to make finer, purer, or cleaner; to purify or clarify.
  • to fine gold
  • * Hobbes
  • It hath been fined and refined by learned men.
  • to become finer, purer, or cleaner.
  • To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.
  • to fine the soil
  • To change by fine gradations.
  • to fine down a ship's lines, i.e. to diminish her lines gradually
  • * Browning
  • I often sate at home / On evenings, watching how they fined themselves / With gradual conscience to a perfect night.
  • to clarify (wine and beer) by filtration.
  • Synonyms
    * (to make or become finer, purer, or cleaner ): clarify, refine, purify

    Derived terms

    * chance'd be a fine thing * cut it fine * fine art * fine as frog hair * fine feathers make fine birds * fine-grained * fine leg * fine line * finely * fineness * fine print * fine-structure constant * fine-tooth comb * fine-tune * fine words butter no parsnips * * just fine * to a fine fare-thee-well

    Etymology 2

    (etyl)

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fee levied as punishment for breaking the law.
  • * The fine for jay-walking has gone from two dollars to thirty in the last fifteen years.
  • * {{quote-book, year=2006, author=
  • , title=Internal Combustion , chapter=2 citation , passage=The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood.}}
    Synonyms
    * amercement

    Verb

  • To issue a fine as punishment to (someone).
  • * She was fined a thousand dollars for littering, but she appealed.
  • To pay a fine.
  • * Hallam
  • Men fined' for the king's good will; or that he would remit his anger; women ' fined for leave to marry.
    Synonyms
    * amerce

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) ("end").

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (music) The end of a musical composition.
  • (music) The location in a musical score that indicates the end of the piece, particularly when the piece ends somewhere in the middle of the score due to a section of the music being repeated.
  • Usage notes
    This word is virtually never used in speech and therefore essentially confined to musical notation.
    Derived terms
    * da capo al fine=

    Etymology 4

    (etyl) finer, (etyl) finir. See (finish) (transitive verb).

    Verb

    (fin)
  • (obsolete) To finish; to cease.
  • (obsolete) To cause to cease; to stop.
  • Noun

    (en noun)
  • (obsolete) End; conclusion; termination; extinction.
  • * Spenser
  • to see their fatal fine
  • * Shakespeare
  • Is this the fine of his fines?
  • A final agreement concerning lands or rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal.
  • (Spelman)
  • (UK, legal) A sum of money or price paid for obtaining a benefit, favor, or privilege, as for admission to a copyhold, or for obtaining or renewing a lease.
  • (Webster 1913)

    Statistics

    *

    clear

    English

    Alternative forms

    * (contraction used in electronics)

    Adjective

    (er)
  • Transparent in colour.
  • Bright, not dark or obscured.
  • Free of obstacles.
  • * , chapter=1
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path
  • Without clouds.
  • *
  • Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes. The clear light of the bright autumn morning had no terrors for youth and health like hers.
  • (lb) Of the sky, such that less than one eighth of its area is obscured by clouds.
  • Free of ambiguity or doubt.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=52, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The new masters and commanders , passage=From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much.
  • Distinct, sharp, well-marked.
  • (lb) Free of guilt, or suspicion.
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • Statesman, yet friend to truth! in soul sincere, / In action faithful, and in honour clear .
  • (lb) Without a thickening ingredient.
  • Possessing little or no perceptible stimulus.
  • (lb) Free from the influence of engrams; see .
  • Able to perceive clearly; keen; acute; penetrating; discriminating.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • Mother of science! now I feel thy power / Within me clear , not only to discern / Things in their causes, but to trace the ways / Of highest agents.
  • Not clouded with passion; serene; cheerful.
  • * (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)
  • With a countenance as clear / As friendship wears at feasts.
  • Easily or distinctly heard; audible.
  • * (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
  • Hark! the numbers soft and clear / Gently steal upon the ear.
  • Unmixed; entirely pure.
  • Without defects or blemishes, such as freckles or knots.
  • Without diminution; in full; net.
  • * (Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)
  • I often wished that I had clear , / For life, six hundred pounds a year.

    Antonyms

    * obscure * (of a soup) thick

    Derived terms

    * as clear as a bell * as clear as day * as clear as mud * clarity * clearly * clearness * crystal clear * free and clear * in the clear * keep a clear head * keep clear

    Adverb

    (-)
  • All the way; entirely.
  • I threw it clear across the river to the other side.
  • Not near something or touching it.
  • Stand clear of the rails, a train is coming.
  • free (or separate) from others
  • * {{quote-news
  • , year=2010 , date=December 29 , author=Chris Whyatt , title=Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton , work=BBC citation , page= , passage=Much soul-searching is going on at the west London club who, just seven weeks ago, were five points clear at the top of the table and playing with the verve with which they won the title last season. }}
  • (obsolete) In a clear manner; plainly.
  • * (rfdate) (Milton)
  • Now clear I understand.
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • *
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • (lb) To remove obstructions or impediments from.
  • *1715–8 , (Matthew Prior), “Alma: or, The Progre?s of the Mind” in Poems on Several Occa?ions (1741), canto III, p.297:
  • *:Faith, Dick, I mu?t confe?s, ?tis true // (But this is only Entre Nous ) // That many knotty Points there are, // Which All di?cu?s, but Few can clear .
  • *(Joseph Addison) (1672–1719)
  • *:A statue lies hid in a block of marble; and the art of the statuary only clears away the superfluous matter.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=7 citation , passage=‘Children crawled over each other like little grey worms in the gutters,’ he said. ‘The only red things about them were their buttocks and they were raw. Their faces looked as if snails had slimed on them and their mothers were like great sick beasts whose byres had never been cleared .
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=29, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Unspontaneous combustion , passage=Since the mid-1980s, when Indonesia first began to clear' its bountiful forests on an industrial scale in favour of lucrative palm-oil plantations, “haze” has become an almost annual occurrence in South-East Asia. The cheapest way to ' clear logged woodland is to burn it, producing an acrid cloud of foul white smoke that, carried by the wind, can cover hundreds, or even thousands, of square miles.}}
  • (lb) To become freed from obstructions.
  • :
  • *
  • *:“A tight little craft,” was Austin’s invariable comment on the matron; and she looked it, always trim and trig and smooth of surface like a converted yacht cleared for action. ¶ Near her wandered her husband, orientally bland, invariably affable,.
  • (lb) To eliminate ambiguity or doubt from a matter; to clarify; especially, to clear up.
  • (lb) To remove from suspicion, especially of having committed a crime.
  • :
  • *(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
  • *:Iam sure he will clear me from partiality.
  • *(Joseph Addison) (1672–1719)
  • *:Wouldst thou clear rebellion?
  • (lb) To pass without interference; to miss.
  • :
  • (lb) To become clear.
  • :
  • (lb) Of a check or financial transaction, to go through as payment; to be processed so that the money is transferred.
  • :
  • To earn a profit of; to net.
  • :
  • * (1800-1859)
  • the profit which she cleared on the cargo
  • (lb) To obtain permission to use (a sample of copyrighted audio) in another track.
  • To disengage oneself from incumbrances, distress, or entanglements; to become free.
  • *1613 , (Francis Bacon), (second edition), essay 18: “ Of Expences”:
  • *:Be?ides, he that cleares' at once will relap?e: for finding him?elfe out of ?traights, he will reuert to his cu?tomes. But hee that ' cleareth by degrees, induceth an habite of frugality, and gaineth as well vpon his minde, as vpon his E?tate.
  • To obtain a clearance.
  • :
  • (lb) To defend by hitting (or kicking, throwing, heading etc.) the ball (or puck) from the defending goal.
  • *{{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 29, author=Chris Whyatt, title=Chelsea 1-0 Bolton
  • , work=BBC citation , passage=Bolton then went even closer when Elmander's cross was met by a bullet header from Holden, which forced a wonderful tip over from Cech before Drogba then cleared the resulting corner off the line.}}
  • To fell all trees of a forest.
  • To reset or unset; to return to an empty state or to zero.
  • :
  • Synonyms

    * (clear a forest) stub

    Derived terms

    * clear away * clear off * clear out * clear up * clearance * clearing

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (carpentry) Full extent; distance between extreme limits; especially; the distance between the nearest surfaces of two bodies, or the space between walls.
  • a room ten feet square in the clear

    Statistics

    *