Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Not refined; not purified: as, unrefined sugar.
  • Not refined or polished in manners, taste, or the like.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective crude, raw or unprocessed
  • adjective of a person lacking refinement; uncouth

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective not refined or processed
  • adjective (used of persons and their behavior) not refined; uncouth

Etymologies

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Examples

  • The sugar of this country is much better than that which we bring home from our plantations: for all the sugar that is made here is clayed, which makes it whiter and finer than our muscovada, as we call our unrefined sugar.

    A Voyage to New Holland William Dampier 1683

  • For the last 25 years, we have had our economic policy led (at least highly influenced) by this kind of unrefined, non-academic theory of supply-side, free-trade at all times, and tax cuts are always a solution type ideology which has gotten us in this ditch.

    Matthew Yglesias » Kevin Hassett 2009

  • There is so much more deliciousness packed in that bonito, and in fact, a second, more "unrefined" preparation called "Second Dashi" is made with the remaining bonito in classical JP cooking too.

    Archive 2009-02-01 2009

  • There is so much more deliciousness packed in that bonito, and in fact, a second, more "unrefined" preparation called "Second Dashi" is made with the remaining bonito in classical JP cooking too.

    Terms: Dashi 2009

  • Â The girl is right at the cusp of breaking out big, and she has that kind of unrefined Angelina Jolie look to her.

    Fantasy Cast… Who should play Catwoman and Penguin in next ‘Batman’? | We Are Movie Geeks 2009

  • The game is very unrefined which is a shame; I think my high degree of patience is what's keeping me from putting this game down but even I'm finding that the mechanics are starting to wear thin.

    Archive 2009-03-01 Josh Bycer 2009

  • Grace Downs, a bottle blonde from Pittsburgh, portrayed Douglas as an "unrefined" lush who had swigged scotch "from a quart bottle" all night.

    It Happened One Night ... at MGM Stenn, David 2003

  • The bold denial of popular rule was bound to offer an easy point of attack to a man, like Jefferson, who so far as his constitutional opinions ran, was not a bit more ready than Hamilton to turn over government to the "unrefined" will of the people.

    Public Opinion Walter Lippmann 1931

  • The vast majority of Anglo-Saxons in whatever clime or capital, suppress their "unrefined" appetites or vagrant fancies -- which are vibrations from the wheel; sometimes hard jerks when the presiding genius is more than commonly out of patience -- and rise to serene heights or grow morbid and irritable according to the strength or the meagerness of their equipment; or the nature of their resources.

    The Sisters-In-Law Gertrude Franklin Horn Atherton 1902

  • The sticky part comes from the thick toffee sauce that's given depth with dark muscovado sugar, a kind of unrefined brown sugar with notes of caramel and molasses.

    The Seattle Times 2010

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