Refresh: A Drink, a Memory, and a Web Page
To refresh is to make fresh again. The word covers drinks, memories and, since the 1990s, reloading a screen.
To refresh is to restore freshness or energy. Computing borrowed it exactly: refreshing a page fetches the current version rather than the stale one held in memory, and the metaphor is clean enough that nobody had to explain it. Older senses survive in *refreshments* and in refreshing someone's memory.
- To restore energy. *A swim refreshed us.*
- To update a display. *Refresh the page.*
- To remind. *Let me refresh your memory.*
- Refreshments — food and drink provided. *Refreshments will be served.*
Word forms
| Form | Word | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Verb | refresh | Refresh the list. |
| Past | refreshed | Refreshed and ready. |
| Adjective | refreshing | A refreshing change. |
| Plural noun | refreshments | Light refreshments. |
| Noun | refresher | A refresher course. |
How it is used in a sentence
- Refresh the page to see the update.Computing.
- It is refreshing to hear a straight answer.Meaning pleasantly unusual.
- He took a refresher course.Updating existing training.
Refresh in computing
- Refresh — fetch the current version of a page
- Hard refresh — bypass the cache entirely
- Cache — stored data reused to save time
- Refresh rate — how many times a second a screen redraws
- Auto-refresh — reloading at set intervals
From Old French *refreschir*, from *re-* and *fresche*, fresh, a word Germanic in origin. English therefore borrowed back a form of its own *fresh*.
What is a hard refresh?
Reloading a page while ignoring the stored cache, so everything is fetched again from the server. The key combination varies by browser.
Refreshing or refreshment?
Refreshing is the adjective. Refreshments, always plural, means the food and drink provided at an event.