Etymology 1

Adjective

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. 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.
3. Sunny and not raining.
4. (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."
5. (informal) Good-looking, attractive.
   • "That man is so fine that I'd jump into his pants without a moment's hesitation."
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. Made of slender or thin filaments.
   • They protected themselves from the small parasites with a fine wire mesh.
9. Subtle, delicately balanced.
   • The fine distinction between lender of last resort and a bail-out ... (The Independent).
10. 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 ...

Synonyms

• (of superior quality): good, excellent
• (informal) (being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory): all right, ok, o.k., okay, hunky-dory
• (made up of particularly small pieces): fine-grained, powdered, powdery, pulverised, pulverized, small-grained
• (made of slender or thin filaments): fine-threaded

Noun

1. something that is fine; fine particles
   • They filtered silt and fines out of the oil.

Verb

1. to make finer, purer, or cleaner
2. to become finer, purer, or cleaner
3. to clarify (wine and beer) by filtration

Synonyms

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

Etymology 2

Noun

1. A payment or fee issued as punishment for breaking the law.
   • The fine for jay-walking has gone from two dollars to thirty in the last fifteen years.

Verb

1. To issue a fine as punishment to (someone).
   • She was fined a thousand dollars for littering, but she appealed.

Noun

1. The end of a musical composition.
2. 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