finest


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fine 1

 (fīn)
adj. fin·er, fin·est
1.
a. Of superior quality, skill, or appearance: a fine day; a fine wine.
b. Excellent in character or ability: a fine person; a fine writer.
2. Very small in size, weight, or thickness: fine type; fine paper.
3.
a. Free from impurities.
b. Metallurgy Containing pure metal in a specified proportion or amount: gold 21 carats fine.
4. Very sharp; keen: a blade with a fine edge.
5. Thin; slender: fine hairs.
6. Carefully or delicately made or done: fine china. See Synonyms at exquisite.
7. Consisting of very small particles; not coarse: fine dust.
8.
a. Marginally different or subtle: a fine difference.
b. Able to make or detect effects of great subtlety or precision; sensitive: has a fine eye for color.
9. Trained to the highest degree of physical efficiency: a fine racehorse.
10. Characterized by refinement or elegance: people in the finest society.
11. Satisfactory; acceptable: Handing in your paper on Monday is fine.
12. Being in a state of satisfactory health; quite well: "How are you?" "I'm fine."
13. Used as an intensive: a fine mess.
adv.
1. Finely.
2. Informal Very well: doing fine.
tr. & intr.v. fined, fin·ing, fines
To make or become finer, purer, or cleaner.

[Middle English fin, from Old French, from Latin fīnis, end, supreme degree.]

fine′ness n.

fine 2

 (fīn)
n.
1. A sum of money required to be paid especially to the government as a penalty for an offense.
2. Obsolete An end; a termination.
tr.v. fined, fin·ing, fines
To require the payment of a fine from; impose a fine on.
Idiom:
in fine
1. In conclusion; finally.
2. In summation; in brief.

[Middle English fin, from Old French, settlement, compensation, from Medieval Latin fīnis, from Latin, end.]

fin′a·ble, fine′a·ble adj.

fi·ne 3

 (fē′nā)
n. Music
The end.

[Italian, from Latin fīnis, end.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

finest

noun
A member of a law-enforcement agency:
Informal: cop, law.
Slang: bull, copper, flatfoot, fuzz, gendarme, heat, man (often uppercase).
Chiefly British: bobby, constable, peeler.
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
References in classic literature ?
Those facile and brilliant phrases and ideas struck me as the finest things I had yet known in literature, and I borrowed the book and read it through.
We had at last arrived on the borders of this forest, doubtless one of the finest of Captain Nemo's immense domains.
It is a solemn thought,--and the finest poem that was ever written came out of a grey pulpy mass such as we make brain sauce of.
By the brand on my shoulder, the finest of tunes Is played by the Lancers, Hussars, and Dragoons, And it's sweeter than "Stables" or "Water" to me-- The Cavalry Canter of "Bonnie Dundee"!
This virtue is not one of those of which the finest examples are to be met with among men.
A hunting-shirt of ruffled calico of bright dyes, or of ornamented leather, falls to his knee; below which, curiously fashioned legging, ornamented with strings, fringes, and a profusion of hawks' bells, reach to a costly pair of moccasons of the finest Indian fabric, richly embroidered with beads.
And Simon Nishikanta tore himself away from his everlasting painting of all colour-delicacies of sea and sky such as are painted by seminary maidens, to be helped and hoisted up the ratlines of the mizzen rigging, the huge bulk of him, by two grinning, slim-waisted sailors, until they lashed him squarely on the crosstrees and left him to stare with eyes of golden desire, across the sun-washed sea through the finest pair of unredeemed binoculars that had ever been pledged in his pawnshops.
"James Matthew--after the two finest gentlemen I've ever known--not even saving your presence," said Anne with a saucy glance at Gilbert.
The finest composition of human nature, as well as the finest china, may have a flaw in it; and this, I am afraid, in either case, is equally incurable; though, nevertheless, the pattern may remain of the highest value.
I have to thank these pages for awakening the finest sensibilities in my nature--nothing more.
This was the part of the world, he said, his eyes first took notice of, on the finest day of his life.
Besides the massive golden signet ring, which marked his ecclesiastical dignity, his fingers, though contrary to the canon, were loaded with precious gems; his sandals were of the finest leather which was imported from Spain; his beard trimmed to as small dimensions as his order would possibly permit, and his shaven crown concealed by a scarlet cap richly embroidered.