fine
English[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
From Middle English fin, fyn, from Old French fin (“fine, minute, exact”), of obscure origin, but probably derived from Latin fīnīre (“to finish”) and/or fīnis (“boundary, limit, end”), with an abstract sense of "fine" or "thin" also arising in many Romance languages (compare Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian fino). Doublet of fino.
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
fine (comparative finer, superlative finest)
- Senses referring to subjective quality.
- 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.
- 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, OCLC 639762314, page 0124:
- "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. […]."
- (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.
- 2016 December 20, Katie Rife, “Passengers strains the considerable charms of Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence”, in The Onion AV Club[1]:
- On the surface, everything is fine. The sleek, futuristic spaceship setting is fine (if a little cold), the acting is fine (or better than fine, in Lawrence’s case), the music is fine, the lighting is fine, the editing, the camerawork—all fine.
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 3, in The Celebrity:
- 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.
- (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, chapter 10, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- 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 or discriminated.
- 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide[2], page 7:
- In any case, Feinsilver’s nomenclatural suggestions and fine distinctions did not enjoy widespread adoption.
- (obsolete) Showy; overdecorated.
- 1853, Matthew Arnold, Preface to The Poems of Matthew Arnold
- They will permit the poet to select any action he pleases, and to suffer that action to go as it will, provided he gratifies them with occasional bursts of fine writing
- 1853, Matthew Arnold, Preface to The Poems of Matthew Arnold
- Delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; dexterous.
- c. 1604–1605, William Shakespeare, “All’s VVell, that Ends VVell”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene iii], page 253, column 2:
- Thou haſt ſpoken all alreadie, vnleſſe thou canſt ſay they are married, but thou art too fine in thy euidence, therefore ſtand aſide.
- 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […], OCLC 960856019:
- The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!
- c. 1692, John Dryden, Discourse on Satire
- The nicest and most delicate touches of satire consist in fine raillery.
- 1728, John Gay, The Beggar's Opera
- He has as fine a hand at picking a pocket as a woman.
- An answer often used to cover an unnecessary explanation, rather to avoid conflict or an argument. Saying "I'm fine" can be used to avoid inquiry when the speaker is not really okay.
- When a girl says she's "fine," she ain't fine.
- Of superior quality.
- Senses referring to objective quality.
- 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”.
- (of weather) Sunny and not raining.
- 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 23, in The Mirror and the Lamp:
- 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.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Leviticus 2:7:
- And if thy oblation be a meate offering baken in the frying pan,it ſhalbe made of fine flowꝛe with oyle.
- Grind it into a fine powder.
- When she touched the artifact, it collapsed into a heap of fine dust.
- 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.
- Made of slender or thin filaments.
- They protected themselves from the small parasites with a fine wire mesh.
- Having a (specified) proportion of pure metal in its composition.
- coins nine tenths fine
- Of a particular grade of quality, usually between very good and very fine, and below mint.
- (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 […]
- (obsolete) Subtle; thin; tenuous.
- 1631, [Francis Bacon], “(please specify |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] VVilliam Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], OCLC 1044372886:
- The eye standeth in the finer medium and the object in the grosser.
Synonyms[edit]
- (of superior quality): good, excellent
- (of acceptable quality, 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[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
See below.
Translations[edit]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Adverb[edit]
fine (comparative more fine, superlative most fine)
- Expression of (typically) reluctant agreement.
- Well, nicely, in a positive way.
- Everything worked out fine.
- (dated, dialect, colloquial) Finely; elegantly; delicately.
- (pool, billiards) In a manner so that the driven ball strikes the object ball so far to one side as to be barely deflected, the object ball being driven to one side.
Synonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
Noun[edit]
fine (plural fines)
- Fine champagne; French brandy.
- 1926, Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, Scribner 2003, page 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, page 18:
- He refilled his glass. ‘The fine is very good,’ he said.
- 1926, Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, Scribner 2003, page 14:
- (usually in the plural) Something that is fine; fine particles.
- They filtered silt and fines out of the soil.
Usage notes[edit]
Particularly used in plural as fines of ground coffee beans in espresso making.
See also[edit]
Verb[edit]
fine (third-person singular simple present fines, present participle fining, simple past and past participle fined)
- (transitive) To make finer, purer, or cleaner; to purify or clarify.
- to fine gold
- 1666 (written), 1681 (published), Thomas Hobbes, A Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England
- It hath been fined and refined by […] learned men.
- (intransitive) To become finer, purer, or cleaner.
- To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.
- to fine the soil
- (Can we find and add a quotation of L. H. Bailey to this entry?)
- To change by fine gradations.
- to fine down a ship's lines, i.e. to diminish her lines gradually
- 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “(please specify |book=1 to 9)”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1857, OCLC 1000396166:
- I often sate at home / On evenings, watching how they fined themselves / With gradual conscience to a perfect night.
- (transitive) To clarify (wine and beer) by filtration.
- (intransitive, dated) To become gradually fine; to diminish; to dwindle (with away, down, or off).
- 1882, William Clark Russell, My Watch Below
- I watched her [the ship] […] gradually fining down in the westward until I lost sight of her hull.
- 1882, William Clark Russell, My Watch Below
Synonyms[edit]
Related terms[edit]
- (clarify by filtration): finings
Translations[edit]
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- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Derived terms[edit]
- 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
- fine-looking
- finely
- fineness
- fine print
- fine-structure constant
- fine-tooth comb
- fine-tune
- fine words butter no parsnips
- I'm fine, thank you
- just fine
- not to put too fine a point on it
- to a fine fare-thee-well
Related terms[edit]
Etymology 2[edit]
From Middle English fyn, fyne, from Old French fin, from Medieval Latin finis (“a payment in settlement or tax”). Doublet of finis.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
fine (plural fines)
- 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, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion[3]:
- 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[edit]
Translations[edit]
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Verb[edit]
fine (third-person singular simple present fines, present participle fining, simple past and past participle fined)
- (transitive) To issue a fine as punishment to (someone).
- She was fined a thousand dollars for littering, but she appealed.
- (intransitive) To pay a fine.
- 1818, Henry Hallam, View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages
- Men fined for the king's good will; or that he would remit his anger; women fined for leave to marry.
- 1818, Henry Hallam, View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages
Synonyms[edit]
Translations[edit]
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Related terms[edit]
Etymology 3[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
fine (plural fines)
- (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[edit]
This word is virtually never used in speech and therefore essentially confined to musical notation.
Derived terms[edit]
Etymology 4[edit]
From Middle English finen, fynen, from Old French finer, finir. See finish (transitive verb).
Verb[edit]
fine (third-person singular simple present fines, present participle fining, simple past and past participle fined)
- (obsolete, intransitive) To finish; to cease.
- (obsolete, transitive) To cause to cease; to stop.
Noun[edit]
fine (plural fines)
- (obsolete) End; conclusion; termination; extinction.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Qveene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for VVilliam Ponsonbie, OCLC 960102938, book IV, canto III, stanza 37:
- And secret feare, to see their fatall fine
- c. 1599–1602, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358, [Act V, scene i]:
- Is this the fine of his fines?
- A final agreement concerning lands or rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Spelman to this entry?)
- (Britain, law) 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.
References[edit]
- “fine”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for fine in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)
Anagrams[edit]
Asturian[edit]
Verb[edit]
fine
Danish[edit]
Adjective[edit]
fine
- plural and definite singular attributive of fin
Esperanto[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Audio (file)
Adverb[edit]
fine
French[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
fine
Noun[edit]
fine f (plural fines)
- (typography) thin space, non-breakable space
- a number of high grade French brandies (usually AOC certified)
Further reading[edit]
- “fine” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
Futuna-Aniwa[edit]
Noun[edit]
fine
- woman, female (of any sort:)
- fine fau : young woman
- tiana fine : his wife
- tiona fine : his daughter
- fine riki : mistress
References[edit]
- Arthur Capell, Futuna-Aniwa Dictionary, with Grammatical Introduction (1984)
Ido[edit]
Adverb[edit]
fine
Irish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old Irish fine, from Proto-Celtic *wenyā (“family”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“desire”); compare Old English wine (“friend”).
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
fine f (genitive singular fine, nominative plural finte)
Declension[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Mutation[edit]
Irish mutation | ||
---|---|---|
Radical | Lenition | Eclipsis |
fine | fhine | bhfine |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
Italian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Adjective[edit]
fine (masculine and feminine plural fini)
Derived terms[edit]
Adjective[edit]
fine
Noun[edit]
fine f (plural fini)
Noun[edit]
fine m (plural fini)
Related terms[edit]
- alla fine
- alla fin fine
- al fine di
- in fin dei conti
- finale
- finezza
- finire
- fino
- fine settimana
- infine
- senza fine
Anagrams[edit]
Latin[edit]
Noun[edit]
fīne
References[edit]
- fine in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
Manx[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old Irish faigen (“sheath, scabbard”), from Latin vāgīna. Cognate with Irish faighin and Scottish Gaelic faighean.
Noun[edit]
fine f
Synonyms[edit]
North Frisian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old Frisian finda, which derives from Proto-West Germanic *finþan. Cognates include Föhr-Amrum North Frisian finj and West Frisian fine.
Verb[edit]
fine
- (Mooring Dialect) to find
Conjugation[edit]
infinitive I | fine | ||
---|---|---|---|
infinitive II | tu finen | ||
infinitive III | än fine | ||
past participle | fünen | ||
imperative | fin | ||
present | past | ||
1st-person singular | ik fin | ik fün | |
2nd-person singular | dü fanst | dü fünst | |
3rd-person singular | hi/jü/et fant | hi/jü/et fün | |
1st-person dual | wat fine | wat fünen | |
2nd-person dual | jat fine | jat fünen | |
1st-person plural | we fine | we fünen | |
2nd-person plural | jam fine | jam fünen | |
3rd-person plural | ja fine | ja fünen | |
perfect | pluperfect | ||
1st-person singular | ik hääw fünen | ik häi fünen | |
2nd-person singular | dü hääst fünen | dü häist fünen | |
3rd-person singular | hi/jü/et heet fünen | hi/jü/et häi fünen | |
1st-person dual | wat hääwe fünen | wat häin fünen | |
2nd-person dual | jat hääwe fünen | jat häin fünen | |
1st-person plural | we hääwe fünen | we häin fünen | |
2nd-person plural | jam hääwe fünen | jam häin fünen | |
3rd-person plural | ja hääwe fünen | ja häin fünen | |
future | |||
1st-person singular | ik wård fine | ||
2nd-person singular | dü wårst fine | ||
3rd-person singular | hi/jü/et wårt fine | ||
1st-person dual | wat wårde fine | ||
2nd-person dual | jat wårde fine | ||
1st-person plural | we wårde fine | ||
2nd-person plural | jam wårde fine | ||
3rd-person plural | ja wårde fine |
Norwegian Bokmål[edit]
Adjective[edit]
fine
Norwegian Nynorsk[edit]
Adjective[edit]
fine
Old Irish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Proto-Celtic *wenyā.
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
fine f
Inflection[edit]
Feminine iā-stem | |||
---|---|---|---|
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
Nominative | fineL | finiL | fini |
Vocative | fineL | finiL | fini |
Accusative | finiN | finiL | fini |
Genitive | fine | fineL | fineN |
Dative | finiL | finib | finib |
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
|
Descendants[edit]
- Irish: fine
Mutation[edit]
Old Irish mutation | ||
---|---|---|
Radical | Lenition | Nasalization |
fine | ḟine | fine pronounced with /v(ʲ)-/ |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
Further reading[edit]
- Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019) , “fine”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
Portuguese[edit]
Verb[edit]
fine
- inflection of finar:
Romanian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Italian fine, and partly French fin.
Noun[edit]
fine f (uncountable)
Synonyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Spanish[edit]
Verb[edit]
fine
- Informal second-person singular (tú) affirmative imperative form of finir.
- Formal second-person singular (usted) present indicative form of finir.
- Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present indicative form of finir.
Swedish[edit]
Adjective[edit]
fine
- absolute definite natural masculine form of fin.
West Frisian[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Old Frisian finda, from Proto-West Germanic *finþan.
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
fine
- to find
- to decide that, to form the opinion that
- Ik fyn dyn freon moai.
- I find your friend nice.
Inflection[edit]
Strong class 3 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
infinitive | fine | |||
3rd singular past | fûn | |||
past participle | fûn | |||
infinitive | fine | |||
long infinitive | finen | |||
gerund | finen n | |||
indicative | present tense | past tense | ||
1st singular | fyn | fûn | ||
2nd singular | fynst | fûnst | ||
3rd singular | fynt | fûn | ||
plural | fine | fûnen | ||
imperative | fyn | |||
participles | finend | fûn |
Further reading[edit]
- “fine (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011
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