High vs Fine - What's the difference?
high | fine |
Elevated in position or status; above many things.
* , chapter=4
, title= * {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=1 Tall, lofty, at a great distance above the ground (at high altitude).
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-07, author=David Simpson
, volume=188, issue=26, page=36, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= (figuratively) Noble, especially of motives, intentions, etc.
(slang) Under the psychological effects of a mood-affecting drug, especially marijuana, or (less common) alcohol.
Of a quantity or value, great or large.
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=
, title= (acoustics) Of greater frequency, i.e. with more rapid wave oscillations.
(of a, body of water) With tall waves.
*
(of meat, especially venison) Strong-scented; slightly tainted/spoiled; beginning to decompose.
Of great strength, force, importance, etc.; mighty; powerful; sometimes, triumphant; victorious; majestic, etc.
* Bible, Psalms lxxxix. 13
* Dryden
* Thackeray
Arrogant; lofty; boastful; proud.
* Bible, Proverbs xxi. 4
* Clarendon
Very abstract; difficult to comprehend or surmount.
* Shakespeare
* Wordsworth
(phonetics) Made with a high position of some part of the tongue in relation to the palate.
Possessing a characteristic quality in a supreme or superior degree.
* Spenser
* Baker
In or to an elevated position.
In or at a great value.
In a pitch of great frequency.
A period of euphoria, from excitement or from an intake of drugs.
* 2013 , Daniel Taylor, Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic climbs highest to sink Benfica'' (in ''The Guardian , 15 May 2013)[http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2013/may/15/benfica-chelsea-europa-league]
A drug that gives such a high.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-10, volume=408, issue=8848, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (informal) A large area of elevated atmospheric pressure; an anticyclone.
The maximum atmospheric temperature recorded at a particular location, especially during one 24-hour period.
An elevated place; a superior region; a height; the sky; heaven.
(card games) The highest card dealt or drawn.
(lb) Of subjective quality.
#Of superior quality.
#:
#*
#*:"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.."
#(lb) Being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory.
#:
#*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=3
, passage=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.}}
#(lb) Good-looking, attractive.
#:
#*, chapter=10
, title= #Subtle, delicately balanced.
#*The Independent
#*:The fine distinction between lender of last resort and a bail-out
#(lb) Showy; overdecorated.
#*(Matthew Arnold) (1822-1888)
#*:He gratified them with occasionalfine writing.
#Delicate; subtle; exquisite; artful; dexterous.
#*(Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)
#*:The spider's touch, how exquisitely fine !
#*(John Dryden) (1631-1700)
#*:The nicest and most delicate touches of satire consist in fine raillery.
#*(Thomas Gray) (1716-1771)
#*:He has as fine a hand at picking a pocket as a woman.
(lb) Of objective quality.
#Of a particular grade of quality, usually between very good'' and ''very fine'', and below ''mint .
#:
#(lb) Sunny and not raining.
#*, chapter=23
, title= #Consisting of especially minute particulate; made up of particularly small pieces.
#:
#Particularly slender; especially thin, narrow, or of small girth.
#:
#Made of slender or thin filaments.
#:
#Having a (specified) proportion of pure metal in its composition.
#:
(lb) Behind the batsman and at a small angle to the line between the wickets.
:
(lb) Subtle; thin; tenuous.
*(Francis Bacon) (1561-1626)
*:The eye standeth in the finer medium and the object in the grosser.
expression of agreement
well, nicely, in a positive way
Fine champagne; French brandy.
* 1926 , Ernest Hemingway, The Sun Also Rises , Scribner 2003, p. 14:
* 1936 , Djuna Barnes, Nightwood , Faber & Faber 2007, p. 18:
(usually, in the plural) something that is fine; fine particles
* They filtered silt and fines out of the soil.
to make finer, purer, or cleaner; to purify or clarify.
* Hobbes
to become finer, purer, or cleaner.
To make finer, or less coarse, as in bulk, texture, etc.
To change by fine gradations.
* Browning
to clarify (wine and beer) by filtration.
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.
* {{quote-book, year=2006, author=
, title=Internal Combustion
, chapter=2 To issue a fine as punishment to (someone).
* She was fined a thousand dollars for littering, but she appealed.
To pay a fine.
* Hallam
(music) The end of a musical composition.
(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.
(obsolete) To finish; to cease.
(obsolete) To cause to cease; to stop.
(obsolete) End; conclusion; termination; extinction.
* Spenser
* Shakespeare
A final agreement concerning lands or rents between persons, as the lord and his vassal.
(UK, legal) 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.
(Webster 1913)
As verbs the difference between high and fine
is that high is (obsolete) to rise or high can be to hie; to hasten while fine is .As a noun high
is (obsolete) thought; intention; determination; purpose or high can be a period of euphoria, from excitement or from an intake of drugs.As an adjective high
is elevated in position or status; above many things.As an adverb high
is in or to an elevated position.high
English
(wikipedia high)Etymology 1
From (etyl) . Related to (l).Etymology 2
From (etyl) high, heigh, heih, from (etyl) .Alternative forms
* hi (informal)Adjective
(er)Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=I told him about everything I could think of; and what I couldn't think of he did. He asked about six questions during my yarn, but every question had a point to it. At the end he bowed and thanked me once more. As a thanker he was main-truck high ; I never see anybody so polite.}}
citation, passage=She was like a Beardsley Salome , he had said. And indeed she had the narrow eyes and the high cheekbone of that creature, and as nearly the sinuosity as is compatible with human symmetry. His wooing had been brief but incisive.}}
Fantasy of navigation, passage=Like most human activities, ballooning has sponsored heroes and hucksters and a good deal in between. For every dedicated scientist patiently recording atmospheric pressure and wind speed while shivering at high altitudes, there is a carnival barker with a bevy of pretty girls willing to dangle from a basket or parachute down to earth.}}
Fenella Saunders, magazine=(American Scientist)
Tiny Lenses See the Big Picture, passage=The single-imaging optic of the mammalian eye offers some distinct visual advantages. Such lenses can take in photons from a wide range of angles, increasing light sensitivity. They also have high spatial resolution, resolving incoming images in minute detail.}}
- Epicures do not cook game before it is high .
- a high''' wind; '''high passions
- Strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
- Can heavenly minds such high resentment show?
- with rather a high manner
- An high look and a proud heart is sin.
- His forces, after all the high discourses, amounted really but to eighteen hundred foot.
- to hear and answer such high things
- Plain living and high thinking are no more.
- high''' (i.e. intense) heat; '''high''' (i.e. full or quite) noon; '''high''' (i.e. rich or spicy) seasoning; '''high''' (i.e. complete) pleasure; '''high''' (i.e. deep or vivid) colour; '''high (i.e. extensive, thorough) scholarship
- High time it is this war now ended were.
- High sauces and spices are fetched from the Indies.
Antonyms
* lowDerived terms
* at the high port * fly high * get high * high altar * high as a kite * high and dry * high and low * high and mighty * high-beam * high blood pressure * high-born * high C * high card * high chair * high-class * high concept * high cotton * high country * high court * high-definition * high-density * high-end * high-energy * high explosive * high fantasy * high fashion * high fidelity * high five/high-five * high-frequency * High German * high-handed * high-hanging * high-hat * high heels * high hopes/have high hopes * high horse/on one's high horse * high island * high jinks * high jump * high-level * high line * high-maintenance * High Mass * high-minded * high-mindedly * high nelly * high-octane * high on the hog * high-pitch * high-pitched * high-powered * high pressure/high-pressure * high priest * high profile * high-ranking * high relief * high-rise * high-risk * high road * high roller * high school * high sea * high season * high-sounding * high-speed * high-spirited * high spirits * high-stick * high street * high-strung * high tackle * high tea * high-tech * high tension * high-test * high tide * high time * high-toned * high touch * high treason * high water * high yaller * highfalutin * highlight * highly * highness/Highness * highway * in high dudgeon * junior high * knee-high * Mile High Club * Most High * on high * sky-high * ultra-high * thigh-high * waist-high (high)See also
* mightyAdverb
(er)- How high above land did you fly?
- Costs have grown higher this year again.
- I certainly can't sing that high .
Usage notes
* The adverb high' and the adverb ' highly shouldn't be confused. *: He hung the picture high on the wall. *: ''As a politician, he isn't esteemed too highly .Noun
(en noun)- They will have to reflect on a seventh successive defeat in a European final while Chelsea try to make sense of an eccentric season rife with controversy and bad feeling but once again one finishing on an exhilarating high .
A new prescription, passage=No sooner has a [synthetic] drug been blacklisted than chemists adjust their recipe and start churning out a subtly different one. These “legal highs ” are sold for the few months it takes the authorities to identify and ban them, and then the cycle begins again.}}
See also
* crashEtymology 3
See hie.Statistics
* 1000 English basic wordsfine
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) fin, from (etyl) .Adjective
(er)The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=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.}}
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=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.}}
Synonyms
* (of superior quality) good, excellent * (informal) (being acceptable, adequate, passable, or satisfactory ): all right, ok, , okay, hunky-dory, kosher * (made up of particularly small pieces) fine-grained, powdered, powdery, pulverised, pulverized, small-grained * (made of slender or thin filaments) fine-threadedAntonyms
* (made up of particularly small pieces) coarse * (made of slender or thin filaments) coarseAdverb
(en adverb)- Everything worked out fine.
Synonyms
* (expression of agreement) all right, alright, OK, very wellNoun
(en noun)- 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.
- He refilled his glass. ‘The fine is very good,’ he said.
Usage notes
Particularly used in plural as fines of ground coffee beans in espresso making.See also
* filingVerb
(fin)- to fine gold
- It hath been fined and refined by learned men.
- to fine the soil
- to fine down a ship's lines, i.e. to diminish her lines gradually
- I often sate at home / On evenings, watching how they fined themselves / With gradual conscience to a perfect night.
Synonyms
* (to make or become finer, purer, or cleaner ): clarify, refine, purifyDerived terms
* chance'd be a fine thing * cut it fine * fine art * fine as frog hair * fine feathers make fine birds * fine-grained * fine leg * fine line * finely * fineness * fine print * fine-structure constant * fine-tooth comb * fine-tune * fine words butter no parsnips * * just fine * to a fine fare-thee-wellEtymology 2
(etyl)Noun
(en noun)citation, passage=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.}}
Synonyms
* amercementVerb
- Men fined' for the king's good will; or that he would remit his anger; women ' fined for leave to marry.
Synonyms
* amerceEtymology 3
From (etyl) ("end").Noun
(en noun)Usage notes
This word is virtually never used in speech and therefore essentially confined to musical notation.Derived terms
* da capo al fine=Etymology 4
(etyl) finer, (etyl) finir. See (finish) (transitive verb).Verb
(fin)Noun
(en noun)- to see their fatal fine
- Is this the fine of his fines?
- (Spelman)