What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Rue vs Refine - What's the difference?

rue | refine |

As a noun rue

is .

As a verb refine is

.

rue

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) rewe, reowe, from (etyl) .

Noun

(-)
  • (archaic, or, dialectal) Sorrow; repentance; regret.
  • (archaic, or, dialectal) Pity; compassion.
  • Derived terms
    * rueful * ruth

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) , from Germanic. Cognate with Dutch rouwen, German reuen.

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To cause to repent of sin or regret some past action.
  • (obsolete) To cause to feel sorrow or pity.
  • To repent of or regret (some past action or event); to wish that a past action or event had not taken place.
  • I rued the day I crossed paths with her.
  • * (rfdate) Chapman
  • I wept to see, and rued it from my heart.
  • * (rfdate) Milton
  • Thy will chose freely what it now so justly rues .
  • (archaic) To feel compassion or pity.
  • * Late 14th century Geoffrey Chaucer, ‘The Franklin's Tale’, Canterbury Tales
  • Madame, reweth upon my peynes smerte
  • * (rfdate) Ridley
  • which stirred men's hearts to rue upon them
  • (archaic) To feel sorrow or regret.
  • * (rfdate) Tennyson
  • Old year, we'll dearly rue for you.
    Usage notes
    Most frequently used in the collocation “rue the day”.

    Etymology 3

    (wikipedia rue) From (etyl) ruwe, (etyl) rue (> modern French rue), from (etyl) . Compare (rude).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any of various perennial shrubs of the genus Ruta , especially the herb , formerly used in medicines.
  • * 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , III.2:
  • But th'aged Nourse, her calling to her bowre, / Had gathered Rew , and Savine, and the flowre / Of Camphora, and Calamint, and Dill [...].
  • * c. 1600 , (William Shakespeare), , (Ophelia):
  • There’s fennel for you, and columbines: there’s rue''' for you; and here’s some for me: we may call it herb-grace o' Sundays: O you must wear your ' rue with a difference.
    Synonyms
    * garden rue * herb of grace
    Derived terms
    * goat's rue * rue anemone * Syrian rue * wall rue

    References

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    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

    * ----