fine
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /faɪn/
rhymes: -aɪn
ipa: /fæːn/
Forms: form: finer
form: finest
Etymology: From Middle English fin, fyn, from Old French fin (“fine, minute, exact”), of obscure origin, but probably derived from Latin fīnīre (“to finish”) 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.
Senses: examples: text: The tree frog that they encountered was truly a fine specimen.
text: Only a really fine wine could fully complement Lucía's hand-made pasta.
text: "That's a fine young fellow," said the historiographer of earwigs, to an American who stood next him in the crowd.
ref: 1856, L. S. Lavenu, chapter XVII, in Erlesmere; or, Contrasts of Character, volume 1, London: Smith, Elder & Co., page 171:
text: "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.[…]."
ref: 1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
glosses: Senses referring to subjective quality.
Of superior quality.
synonyms: good
excellent
examples: text: You're a fine one to talk about laziness.
text: Here's another fine mess you've gotten us into.
text: A fine romance, with no kisses,
A fine romance, my friend, this is;
We should be like a couple of hot tomatoes,
But you're as cold as yesterday's mashed potatoes.
ref: 1936, “A Fine Romance”, in Dorothy Fields (lyrics), Jerome Kern (music), Swing Time (musical film):
glosses: Senses referring to subjective quality.
Impressively bad, inappropriate, or unsatisfactory.
synonyms: hell of a
examples: text: How are you today? – Fine.
text: Will this one do? It's got a dent in it. – Yeah, it'll be fine, I guess.
text: It's fine with me if you stay out late, so long as you're back by three.
text: 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.
ref: 2016 December 20, Katie Rife, “Passengers strains the considerable charms of Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 23 Apr 2018:
text: 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.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter III, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
glosses: Senses referring to subjective quality.
Being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory.
synonyms: all right
ok
o.k.
okay
hunky-dory
kosher
examples: text: That man is so fine that I'd jump into his pants without a moment's hesitation.
text: 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.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: He's so fine (doo-lang-doo-lang-doo-lang) / Wish he were mine (doo-lang-doo-lang-doo-lang) / That handsome boy over there (doo-lang-doo-lang-doo-lang) / The one with the wavy hair (doo-lang-doo-lang-doo-lang)
ref: 1963, Ronnie Mack, “He's So Fine”, in He's So Fine, performed by The Chiffons:
glosses: Senses referring to subjective quality.
Good-looking, attractive.
examples: text: In any case, Feinsilver’s nomenclatural suggestions and fine distinctions did not enjoy widespread adoption.
ref: 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 7:
glosses: Senses referring to subjective quality.
Subtle, delicately balanced or discriminated.
examples: 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
glosses: Senses referring to subjective quality.
Showy; overdecorated.
examples: text: Thou haſt ſpoken all alreadie, vnleſſe thou canſt ſay they are married, but thou art too fine in thy euidence, therefore ſtand aſide.
ref: c. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 253, column 2:
text: The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!
ref: 1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: […] J[ohn] Wilford, […], →OCLC:
text: The nicest and most delicate touches of satire consist in fine raillery.
ref: c. 1692, John Dryden, Discourse on Satire:
text: He has as fine a hand at picking a pocket as a woman.
ref: 1728, John Gay, The Beggar's Opera:
glosses: Senses referring to subjective quality.
Delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; dexterous.
examples: text: Do you want to talk about what happened? – [sharply, with annoyance or discomfort] I'm fine!
glosses: Senses referring to subjective quality.
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.
examples: text: The small scratch meant that his copy of “X-Men #2” was merely fine when it otherwise would have been “near mint”.
glosses: Senses referring to objective quality.
Of a particular grade of quality, usually between very good and very fine, and below mint.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
glosses: Senses referring to objective quality.
Sunny and not raining.
raw_tags: of weather
examples: text: Grind it into a fine powder.
text: When she touched the artifact, it collapsed into a heap of fine dust.
text: And if thy oblation be a meate offering baken in the frying pan,it ſhalbe made of fine flowꝛe with oyle.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 2:7:
glosses: Senses referring to objective quality.
Consisting of especially minute particulates; made up of particularly small pieces.
synonyms: fine-grained
powdered
powdery
pulverised
pulverized
small-grained
antonyms: coarse
examples: text: The threads were so fine that you had to look through a magnifying glass to see them.
glosses: Senses referring to objective quality.
Particularly slender; especially thin, narrow, or of small girth.
examples: text: They protected themselves from the small parasites with a fine wire mesh.
glosses: Senses referring to objective quality.
Made of slender or thin filaments.
synonyms: fine-threaded
antonyms: coarse
examples: text: Coins nine tenths fine.
glosses: Senses referring to objective quality.
Having a (specified) proportion of pure metal in its composition.
examples: text: […]to nudge it through the covers (or tickle it down to fine leg) for a four[…]
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: Behind the batsman and at a small angle to the line between the wickets.
examples: text: The eye standeth in the finer medium and the object in the grosser.
ref: 1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC:
glosses: Subtle; thin; tenuous.