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Narrow vs Refine - What's the difference?

narrow | refine |

As verbs the difference between narrow and refine

is that narrow is to reduce in width or extent; to contract while refine is to reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from impurities; to free from dross or alloy; to separate from extraneous matter; to purify.

As an adjective narrow

is having a small width; not wide; slim; slender; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth.

As a noun narrow

is a narrow passage, especially a contracted part of a stream, lake, or sea; a strait connecting two bodies of water.

narrow

English

Adjective

(er)
  • Having a small width; not wide; slim; slender; having opposite edges or sides that are close, especially by comparison to length or depth.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
  • , chapter=1 citation , passage=She was like a Beardsley Salome , he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry.}}
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=14 citation , passage=Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime. Their bases were on a level with the pavement outside, a narrow way which was several feet lower than the road behind the house.}}
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Catherine Clabby
  • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Focus on Everything , passage=Not long ago, it was difficult to produce photographs of tiny creatures with every part in focus. That’s because the lenses that are excellent at magnifying tiny subjects produce a narrow depth of field. A photo processing technique called focus stacking has changed that.}}
  • Of little extent; very limited; circumscribed.
  • * Bishop Wilkins
  • The Jews were but a small nation, and confined to a narrow compass in the world.
  • (figuratively) Restrictive; without flexibility or latitude.
  • Contracted; of limited scope; illiberal; bigoted.
  • a narrow''' mind; '''narrow views
  • * Macaulay
  • a narrow understanding
  • Having a small margin or degree.
  • The Republicans won by a narrow majority.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 18, author=Ben Dirs
  • , title=Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia, work=BBC Sport citation , passage=As in their narrow defeat of Argentina last week, England were indisciplined at the breakdown, and if Georgian fly-half Merab Kvirikashvili had remembered his kicking boots, Johnson's side might have been behind at half-time.}}
  • (dated) Limited as to means; straitened; pinching.
  • narrow circumstances
  • Parsimonious; niggardly; covetous; selfish.
  • * Smalridge
  • a very narrow and stinted charity
  • Scrutinizing in detail; close; accurate; exact.
  • * Milton
  • But first with narrow search I must walk round / This garden, and no corner leave unspied.
  • (phonetics) Formed (as a vowel) by a close position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate; or (according to Bell) by a tense condition of the pharynx; distinguished from wide.
  • Antonyms

    * wide * broad

    Derived terms

    * narrowboat, narrow boat * narrow-minded * narrowness

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To reduce in width or extent; to contract.
  • We need to narrow the search.
  • To get narrower.
  • The road narrows .
  • (knitting) To contract the size of, as a stocking, by taking two stitches into one.
  • Synonyms
    * taper

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (chiefly, in the plural) A narrow passage, especially a contracted part of a stream, lake, or sea; a strait connecting two bodies of water.
  • the Narrows of New York harbor
  • * Gladstone
  • Near the island lay on one side the jaws of a dangerous narrow .
    1000 English basic words

    refine

    English

    Verb

    (refin)
  • To reduce to a fine, unmixed, or pure state; to free from impurities; to free from dross or alloy; to separate from extraneous matter; to purify
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Yesterday’s fuel , passage=The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.
  • To purify from what is gross, coarse, vulgar, inelegant, low, and the like; to make elegant or excellent; to polish.
  • To become pure; to be cleared of feculent matter.
  • To improve in accuracy, delicacy, or excellence.
  • To affect nicety or subtlety in thought or language.
  • Anagrams

    * ----