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
Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald, 18 Mar. 2025
That space – as well as the following gift shop – is being refurbished.
—Dewayne Bevil, Orlando Sentinel, 12 Mar. 2025
When will the Aria Suites be available? Cathay Pacific is progressively refurbishing older Boeing 777-300ER aircraft with not only a new business-class cabin but also a modernized premium-economy cabin.
—Chris Dong, AFAR Media, 26 Feb. 2025
This refurbished MacBook Air has a 1.8GHz Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB RAM, and a 13.3-inch Retina display.
—Stackcommerce Team (sponsored), PCMAG, 28 Feb. 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 22 Mar. 2025.
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refurbish
verb
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