refine
rih-FINEverbMeaning to improve by making small changes; also, to purify
Memory hook RE-FINE: fine, then FINER. Dev’s robot rolls, but it wobbles. He tightens one gear, then another, making it a little finer each time. Little by little, he will refine it.
Lila refined her essay through five careful drafts.
In context The first robot could barely roll across the floor, but the team kept refining the design, adjusting a gear here and a sensor there, until it won the contest.
Similar polish, perfect, improve, hone
Opposite coarsen, worsen
From re (again) + fine in its old sense, “to make pure.”