Definition of "fine"

Senses referring to subjective quality.

1. Of superior quality.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • "That's a fine young fellow," said the historiographer of earwigs, to an American who stood next him in the crowd.

     1856, L. S. Lavenu, chapter XVII, in Erlesmere; or, Contrasts of Character‎, volume 1, London: Smith, Elder & Co., page 171

   • "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. […]."

     1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company

2. (ironic) Impressively bad, inappropriate, or unsatisfactory.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1936, “A Fine Romance”, in Dorothy Fields (lyrics), Jerome Kern (music), Swing Time (musical film)

3. (informal) Being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     2016 December 20, Katie Rife, “Passengers strains the considerable charms of Chris Pratt and Jennifer Lawrence”, in The Onion AV Club‎

   • 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.

     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.

4. (informal) Good-looking, attractive.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter X, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company

5. Subtle, delicately balanced or discriminated.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • In any case, Feinsilver’s nomenclatural suggestions and fine distinctions did not enjoy widespread adoption.

     2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎, page 7

6. (obsolete) Showy; overdecorated.  quotations

   Quotations

   • 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

7. Delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; dexterous.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • Thou haſt ſpoken all alreadie, vnleſſe thou canſt ſay they are married, but thou art too fine in thy euidence, therefore ſtand aſide.

     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, [Act V, scene iii], page 253, column 2

   • The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!

     1733, [Alexander Pope], An Essay on Man. […], (please specify |epistle=I to IV), London: Printed for J[ohn] Wilford, […]

   • The nicest and most delicate touches of satire consist in fine raillery.

     c. 1692, John Dryden, Discourse on Satire

   • He has as fine a hand at picking a pocket as a woman.

     1728, John Gay, The Beggar's Opera

8. 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

Senses referring to objective quality.

1. Of a particular grade of quality, usually between very good and very fine, and below mint.  examples

2. (of weather) Sunny and not raining.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • 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.

     1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company

3. Consisting of especially minute particulates; made up of particularly small pieces.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • And if thy oblation be a meate offering baken in the frying pan,it ſhalbe made of fine flowꝛe with oyle.

     1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], Leviticus 2:7

4. Particularly slender; especially thin, narrow, or of small girth.  examples

5. Made of slender or thin filaments.  examples

6. Having a (specified) proportion of pure metal in its composition.  examples

(cricket) Behind the batsman and at a small angle to the line between the wickets.  examples

(obsolete) Subtle; thin; tenuous.  quotations

Expression of (typically) reluctant or agreement.  examples

Well, nicely, in a positive, agreeable way.  examples

(dated, dialect, colloquial) Finely; elegantly; delicately.  examples

(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.  examples

Fine champagne; French brandy.  quotations  examples

(usually in the plural) Something that is fine; fine particles.  examples

(transitive) To make finer, purer, or cleaner; to purify or clarify.  quotations  examples

(intransitive) To become finer, purer, or cleaner.  examples

To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.  quotations  examples

To change by fine gradations.  quotations  examples

(transitive) To clarify (wine and beer) by filtration.  examples

(intransitive, dated) To become gradually fine; to diminish; to dwindle (with away, down, or off).  quotations  examples

A fee levied as punishment for breaking the law.  quotations  examples

(obsolete) Money paid by a tenant on the commencement of a tenancy so that his or her rent may be small or nominal.

(Cambridge University slang) A drink that must be taken during a meal or as part of a drinking game, following an announcement that anyone who has done some (usually outrageous) deed is to be fined; similar to I have never; commonly associated with swaps; very similar to a sconce at Oxford University, though a fine is the penalty itself rather than the act of issuing it.

(transitive) To issue a fine as punishment to (someone).  examples

(intransitive) To pay a fine.  quotations  examples

(music) The end of a musical composition.  examples

(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.  examples

(obsolete, intransitive) To finish; to cease.

(obsolete, transitive) To cause to cease; to stop.

(obsolete) End; conclusion; termination; extinction.  quotations

(feudal law) A final agreement concerning lands or rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal.  quotations  examples

(UK, 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.  examples