Standard Lemma guide

refinery

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /rɪˈfaɪnərɪ/
  • US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: R IH0 F AY1 N ER0 IY0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A building, or a mass of machinery, used to produce refined products such as sugar, oil, or metals.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

an industrial plant for purifying a crude substance

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: plant, works, industrial plant

Narrower terms: oil refinery, petroleum refinery, sugar refinery

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Italic *wre- Latin re-der. Old French re-bor. Middle English re- English re- English fine English refine Middle English -re,-ri,-rie,-ry,-rye English -ry English refinery From refine + -ry.

Across languages

Translations

41 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Arabic: مِصْفَاة (miṣfāh) — building used to produce refined products
  • Belarusian: нафтаперапрацо́ўчы заво́д (naftapjerapracówčy zavód) — building used to produce refined products
  • Belarusian: НПЗ (NPZ) — building used to produce refined products
  • Bulgarian: рафине́рия (rafinérija) — building used to produce refined products
  • Catalan: refineria — building used to produce refined products
  • Chinese Mandarin: 精煉廠 /精炼厂 (jīngliànchǎng) — building used to produce refined products
  • Czech: rafinérie — building used to produce refined products
  • Danish: raffinaderi — building used to produce refined products
  • Dutch: raffinaderij — building used to produce refined products
  • Finnish: jalostamo — building used to produce refined products
  • French: raffinerie — building used to produce refined products
  • German: Raffinerie — building used to produce refined products
  • Greek: διυλιστήριο (diylistírio) — building used to produce refined products
  • Hungarian: finomító — building used to produce refined products
  • Indonesian: kilang — building used to produce refined products
  • Italian: raffineria — building used to produce refined products
  • Japanese: 精錬所 (seirensho) — building used to produce refined products
  • Japanese: 製油所 (seiyujo) — building used to produce refined products
  • Korean: 제유소 (jeyuso) — building used to produce refined products
  • Korean: 제당소 (jedangso) — building used to produce refined products
  • Malay: loji penapis — building used to produce refined products
  • Maltese: raffinerija — building used to produce refined products
  • Iranian Persian: پالایِشْگاه (pâlâyešgâh) — building used to produce refined products
  • Polish: rafineria — building used to produce refined products
  • Portuguese: refinaria — building used to produce refined products
  • Romanian: rafinărie — building used to produce refined products
  • Russian: нефтеперераба́тывающий заво́д (neftepererabátyvajuščij zavód) — building used to produce refined products
  • Russian: НПЗ (NPZ) — building used to produce refined products
  • Russian: нефтезаво́д (neftezavód) — building used to produce refined products
  • Russian: са́харный заво́д (sáxarnyj zavód) — building used to produce refined products
  • Sicilian: riffinirìa — building used to produce refined products
  • Spanish: refinería — building used to produce refined products
  • Swedish: raffinaderi — building used to produce refined products
  • Turkish: arıtımevi — building used to produce refined products
  • Turkish: rafineri — building used to produce refined products
  • Turkish: tasfiyehane — building used to produce refined products
  • Ukrainian: нафтопереро́бний заво́д (naftopereróbnyj zavód) — building used to produce refined products
  • Ukrainian: НПЗ (NPZ) — building used to produce refined products
  • Volapük: rafinükamöp — building used to produce refined products
  • Volapük: juegirafinükamöp — building used to produce refined products
  • Welsh: purfa — building used to produce refined products
Real reading context

refinery in complete knowledge articles