ultrarefined

English

Alternative forms

• ultra-refined

Etymology

ultra- +‎ refined

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌʌltɹəɹiːfaɪnd/

Adjective

ultrarefined (comparative more ultrarefined, superlative most ultrarefined)

1. Extremely refined; sometimes, more refined than a specific purity cutoff for a particular substance.
   • 1879, The Physician and Surgeon: A Professional Medical Journal‎^[1], Ann Arbor, Mich, page 130:

     This doctrine may sound somewhat sacrilegious to the ultrarefined laboratorian, but it is stating conditions exactly as they are and as they are bound to be for generations in everyday medical life, outside of hospitals.

   • 1907, Hubert Howe Bancroft, Some Cities and San Francisco, and Resurgam‎^[2], The Bancroft Company, pages 20–21:

     As an instance of modern aesthetic town construction one might cite Denver, a western Yankee metropolis of ultrarefined men and women from down Boston way, breathing a nomenclature never so freely used before among mid-continent mountains, streets, schoolhouses, parks, and gardens all alive with the names of New England poets, philosophers, and statesmen. Scarcely yet turned the half century in age, few such charming cities as Denver have been made with fewer mistakes.

   • 1909, Thomas Joseph Brooks, The March of Intellect: A Review of Man's Achievements That Make for the Advancement of Civilization and a Glimpse of the Future‎^[3], Broadway Publishing Company, page 127:

     There never was a time when men of thought did not spring up among the primitive millions. Barbaric instincts are constantly recurring to perplex and shock the sensibilities of the ultrarefined, and primitive specimens of humanity float like waifs on the surface of our civilization till borne beneath the current, or wrecked on its shores. All grades of intellectual development that have ever existed exist today somewhere on the face of the earth.