refurbish
verb
Did you know?
As seems proper given how English prefixes work, before you could refurbish something you could furbish it. That shorter word was borrowed into Middle English in the 14th century from Anglo-French as furbisshen; it shares a distant relative with the Old High German verb furben, meaning "to polish." In its earliest uses furbish also meant "to polish," but it developed an extended sense of "to renovate" shortly before English speakers created refurbish with the same meaning in the 17th century. These days refurbish is the more common of the two words, although furbish does continue to be used.
Examples of refurbish in a Sentence
Kylie Robison, The Verge, 7 Aug. 2024
And last year, a new (or at least, meticulously refurbished) hotel arrived in town, San Domenico Palace—and drew headlines even more recently as the setting of the second season of The White Lotus.
—Liam Hess, Vogue, 6 Aug. 2024
They are not refurbished and no imperfections are polished away.
—Raphael Orlove, Robb Report, 1 Aug. 2024
Returning to state ownership in 2016 after 20 years of private management, the Italian Ministry of Culture invested 37 million euros ($40 million) to expand and refurbish the famed studio.
—Federica Polidoro, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for refurbish 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'refurbish.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near refurbish
Cite this Entry
“Refurbish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/refurbish. Accessed 19 Aug. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
refurbish
verb
Share