fine

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /faɪn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪn
• (Tasmanian) IPA^(key): /fæːn/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Adjective

fine (comparative finer, superlative finest)

1. Senses referring to subjective quality.
   1. Of superior quality.

      The tree frog that they encountered was truly a fine specimen.

      Only a really fine wine could fully complement Lucía's hand-made pasta.

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

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

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

        "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. […]."

      Synonyms: good, excellent

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

      You're a fine one to talk about laziness.

      Here's another fine mess you've gotten us into.

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

        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.

      Synonym: hell of a

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

      How are you today? – Fine.

      Will this one do? It's got a dent in it. – Yeah, it'll be fine, I guess.

      It's fine with me if you stay out late, so long as you're back by three.

      • 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 April 2018:

        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.

      • 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:

        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.

      Synonyms: all right, ok, o.k., okay, hunky-dory, kosher

   4. (informal) Good-looking, attractive.

      That man is so fine that I'd jump into his pants without a moment's hesitation.

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

        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.

   5. Subtle, delicately balanced or discriminated.
      • 2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide‎, page 7:

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

   6. (obsolete) Showy; overdecorated.
      • 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

   7. Delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; dexterous.
      • 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:

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

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

        The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine!

      • c. 1692, John Dryden, Discourse on Satire:

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

      • 1728, John Gay, The Beggar's Opera:

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

   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.

      Do you want to talk about what happened? – [sharply, with annoyance or discomfort] I'm fine!

2. Senses referring to objective quality.
   1. Of a particular grade of quality, usually between very good and very fine, and below mint.

      The small scratch meant that his copy of “X-Men #2” was merely fine when it otherwise would have been “near mint”.

   2. (of weather) Sunny and not raining.
      • 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:

        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.

   3. Consisting of especially minute particulates; made up of particularly small pieces.
      • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 2:7:

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

      Grind it into a fine powder.

      When she touched the artifact, it collapsed into a heap of fine dust.

      Synonyms: fine-grained, powdered, powdery, pulverised, pulverized, small-grained

      Antonym: coarse

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

      The threads were so fine that you had to look through a magnifying glass to see them.

   5. Made of slender or thin filaments.

      They protected themselves from the small parasites with a fine wire mesh.

      Synonym: fine-threaded

      Antonym: coarse

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

      Coins nine tenths fine.

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

   […] to nudge it through the covers (or tickle it down to fine leg) for a four […]

4. (obsolete) Subtle; thin; tenuous.
   • 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:

     The eye standeth in the finer medium and the object in the grosser.

Adverb

fine (comparative more fine, superlative most fine)

1. Expression of (typically) reluctant or agreement.

   Synonyms: all right, alright, OK, very well

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

   Everything worked out fine.

3. (dated, dialect, colloquial) Finely; elegantly; delicately.
4. (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.

Noun

fine (plural fines)

1. Fine champagne; French brandy.
   • 1926, Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises, Scribner, published 2003, page 14:

     We had dined at l'Avenue's, and afterward went to the Café de Versailles for coffee. We had several fines after the coffee, and I said I must be going.

   • 1928, Jean Rhys, Quartet, Penguin, published 2000, page 34:

     ‘Darling,’ Lois told her, ‘don't get depressed. Have another fine.’

   • 1936, Djuna Barnes, Nightwood, Faber & Faber, published 2007, page 18:

     He refilled his glass. ‘The fine is very good,’ he said.

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

   They filtered silt and fines out of the soil.

Verb

fine (third-person singular simple present fines, present participle fining, simple past and past participle fined)

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

   to fine gold

   • 1666 (written), 1681 (published), Thomas Hobbes, A Dialogue between a Philosopher and a Student of the Common Laws of England

     It hath been fined and refined by […] learned men.

2. (intransitive) To become finer, purer, or cleaner.
3. To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.
   • 1913, Liberty Hyde Bailey, The Practical Garden Book:

     The tools to be used for this surface tillage are those that comminute or fine the soil most completely without compacting it or leaving it in ridges or in furrows

4. To change by fine gradations.

   to fine down a ship's lines, i.e. to diminish her lines gradually

   • 1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “(please specify either |book=1 to 9 or the page)”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1857, →OCLC:

     I often sate at home
     On evenings, watching how they fined themselves
     With gradual conscience to a perfect night.

5. (transitive) To clarify (wine and beer) by filtration.
6. (intransitive, dated) To become gradually fine; to diminish; to dwindle (with away, down, or off).
   • 1882, William Clark Russell, My Watch Below:

     I watched her [the ship] […] gradually fining down in the westward until I lost sight of her hull.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /faɪn/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Noun

fine (plural fines)

2. A fee levied as punishment for breaking the law.

   The fine for jay-walking has gone from two dollars to thirty in the last fifteen years.

   • 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 2, in Internal Combustion‎:

     The popular late Middle Ages fictional character Robin Hood, dressed in green to symbolize the forest, dodged fines for forest offenses and stole from the rich to give to the poor. But his appeal was painfully real and embodied the struggle over wood.

3. (obsolete) Money paid by a tenant on the commencement of a tenancy so that their rent may be small or nominal.
4. (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.

   Fine if you've…

Verb

fine (third-person singular simple present fines, present participle fining, simple past and past participle fined)

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

   She was fined a thousand dollars for littering, but she appealed.

3. (intransitive) To pay a fine.
   • 1818, Henry Hallam, View of the State of Europe during the Middle Ages:

     Men fined for the king's good will; or that he would remit his anger; women fined for leave to marry.

Related terms

• finance

Pronunciation

• enPR: fē'nā, IPA^(key): /ˈfiːneɪ/

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Noun

fine (plural fines)

1. (music) The end of a musical composition.
2. (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.

Verb

fine (third-person singular simple present fines, present participle fining, simple past and past participle fined)

1. (obsolete, intransitive) To finish; to cease.
2. (obsolete, transitive) To cause to cease; to stop.

Noun

fine (plural fines)

1. (obsolete) End; conclusion; termination; extinction.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 37:

     And secret feare, to see their fatall fine

   • c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:

     Is this the fine of his fines?

2. (feudal law) A final agreement concerning lands or rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal.
   • 1523, Anthony Fitzherbert, The Boke of Surveying and Improvements:

     To cause them to pay more rent or a gretter fyne than they haue ben acustomed to do in tyme past.

3. (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.

Declension

The IGT ii §1 inflection patterns derive from io-stem and iā-stem inflections.

The extended plurals derive from d-stem inflections.

Declension

Derived terms

• Fine Gael

Derived terms

• finemente

Related terms

Synonyms

• cuinnag

Conjugation

Noun

fine f

1. family, kin, group of people of common descent
2. clan, tribe, race

Mutation

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “fine”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Noun

fine

1. Lenited form of sine.

Mutation

Derived terms

• în fine

Inflection

Further reading

• “fine (I)”, in Wurdboek fan de Fryske taal (in Dutch), 2011