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
Dj Siddiqi, Forbes.com, 15 July 2025
The city had been exploring ways to modernize the 54-year-old building by renovating or refurbishing it.
—Shawn Raymundo, AZCentral.com, 8 July 2025
The Ruins were recently refurbished and serve as a backdrop for the Rock the Ruins Summer Concert Series.
—John Tuohy, IndyStar, 2 July 2025
In 1974, Congress agreed to refurbish the Naval Observatory house as the vice president's home.
—Chad Murphy, The Enquirer, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for refurbish
Cite this Entry
“Refurbish.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/refurbish. Accessed 21 Jul. 2025.
Copy CitationKids Definition
refurbish
verb
Share