rarefied

adjective

rar·​e·​fied ˈrer-ə-ˌfīd 

variants or less commonly rarified

1

: being less dense

2

: of, relating to, or interesting to a select group : esoteric

3

: very high

Did you know?

In the upper reaches of Chomolungma, known more familiarly as Mount Everest, the air is so rarefied—so much less dense than at lower elevations—that most climbers use supplemental oxygen in order to successfully complete their climb. This sense of rarefied, a word that comes from a combination of the Latin words rarus (“thin” or “rare”) and facere (“to make”), has been in use since the 1500s. A second, figurative sense of rarefied developed in the following century to describe things that can only be understood by a small or select group, i.e. one “thinned” from the majority of people by dint of their unique experience, expertise, or status. It’s this sense that we use when we say that to successfully summit Chomolungma puts one in rarefied company—just over 6,000 people have made it to the top at the time of this writing.

Examples of rarefied in a Sentence

It's difficult to breathe in the rarefied air near the mountain's peak.

Recent Examples on the Web

Not least, many wondered whether Harris would be content returning to the small stage of Sacramento after traveling the world as vice president and working in the rarefied air of politics at its peak. —Mark Z. Barabak, Mercury News, 1 Aug. 2025

Haaland can’t imagine himself—or his modern-day colleagues—reaching their rarefied air. —Sean Gregory, Time, 31 July 2025

The connected villas boast architecture that is refined and rarefied even by Coral Gables standards. —Andres Viglucci, Miami Herald, 25 July 2025

As a result, the air of rarefied academic privilege on campus begins to dissolve, and Alma must navigate minefields of gender, sexuality, race, and institutional power, all while trying to reconcile her own difficult choices with the demons of her past. —Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 23 July 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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