Fine

Pronunciation

• IPA: /faɪn/,
• Rhymes: -aɪn
• Tasmanian IPA: /fæːn/

From Middle English fin, from Old French fin ("fine, minute, exact"), probably, from Latin finitus ("literally finished (used as an adjective by Cicero, of words, well rounded)"), past participle of fīnīre ("to limit, bound, define, terminate, finish"), from finis ("a limit, end").

Full definition of fine

Adjective

1. Of subjective quality.
1. Of superior quality.
   The tree frog that they encountered was truly a fine specimen.   Only a really fine wine could fully complement Lucía's hand-made pasta.
2. (informal) Being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory.
   "How are you today?" "Fine."   "Will this one do? It's got a dent in it" "Yeah, it'll be fine, I guess."   "It's fine with me if you stay out late, so long as you're back by three."
• 1898, Winston Churchill, The Celebrity Chapter 3, 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.
3. (informal) Good-looking, attractive.
   "That man is so fine that I'd jump into his pants without a moment's hesitation."
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 10, 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.
4. Subtle, delicately balanced.
• The IndependentThe fine distinction between lender of last resort and a bail-out...
5. (obsolete) Showy; overdecorated.
• Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)He gratified them with occasional...fine writing.
6. 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.
2. Of objective quality.
1. Of a particular grade of quality, usually between very good and very fine, and below mint.
   The small scratch meant that his copy of X-Men #2 was merely fine when it otherwise would have been near mint.
2. (of weather) Sunny and not raining.
• 1918, W. B. Maxwell, The Mirror and the Lamp Chapter 23, 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.
3. Consisting of especially minute particulate; made up of particularly small pieces.
   Grind it into a fine powder.   When she touched the artifact, it collapsed into a heap of fine dust.
4. Particularly slender; especially thin, narrow, or of small girth.
   The threads were so fine that you had to look through a magnifying glass to see them.
5. Made of slender or thin filaments.
   They protected themselves from the small parasites with a fine wire mesh.
6. Having a (specified) proportion of pure metal in its composition.
   coins nine tenths fine
7. (cricket) Behind the batsman and at a small angle to the line between the wickets.
   ...to nudge it through the covers (or tickle it down to fine leg) for a four...
8. (obsolete) 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, o.k., 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

1. expression of agreement
2. well, nicely, in a positive wayEverything worked out fine.

Synonyms

• expression of agreement all right, alright, OK, very well

Noun

1. Fine champagne; French brandy.
• 1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber 2007, p. 18:He refilled his glass. ‘The fine is very good,’ he said.
2. (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.

Verb

1. (transitive) to make finer, purer, or cleaner; to purify or clarify.to fine gold
• HobbesIt hath been fined and refined by ... learned men.
2. (intransitive) to become finer, purer, or cleaner.
3. To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.to fine the soil
4. To change by fine gradations.to fine down a ship's lines, i.e. to diminish her lines gradually
• BrowningI often sate at home
  On evenings, watching how they fined themselves
  With gradual conscience to a perfect night.
5. (transitive) to clarify (wine and beer) by filtration.

Synonyms

• (to make or become finer, purer, or cleaner): clarify, refine, purify

Related terms

• (clarify by filtration) finings

Derived terms

Related terms

• final
• finite

Pronunciation

• IPA: /faɪn/,

Old French fin ("end"), from Medieval Latin finis ("a payment in settlement or tax")

Noun

1. 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.
• 2006, w, Internal Combustion Chapter 2, 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

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

Synonyms

• amerce

Related terms

• finance

Pronunciation

• enPR: fÄ“'nā, IPA: /ˈfiːneɪ/

From Italian fine ("end").

Noun

1. (music) The end of a musical composition.
2. (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=D.C. al fine

Old French finer, French finir. See finish (transitive verb).

Verb

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To finish; to cease.
2. (obsolete, transitive) To cause to cease; to stop.

Noun

1. (obsolete) End; conclusion; termination; extinction.
• Spenserto see their fatal fine
• ShakespeareIs this the fine of his fines?
2. A final agreement concerning lands or rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal.
3. (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.

Anagrams

• Enif
• ifen
• nief