Devoted group having bearing in the end on old city with an intellectual refinement (7)
I believe the answer is:
culture
'refinement' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
I don't understand how the remainder of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for culture that I've seen before include "Obsessive lover of the arts (with a bird)" , "The arts; grown bacteria" , "Set of ideas and values of a group" , "Grown preparation of cells; the arts" , "Knowledge and values shared by a society" .)