rarefied

adjective rar·e·fied \ ˈrer-ə-ˌfīd \

variants: or less commonly rarified

|Updated on: 17 Jul 2018

Examples: rarefied in a Sentence

Editor's Note: Did You Know?

Definition of rarefied

1 : being less dense

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

3 : very high

See rarefied defined for English-language learners

rarefied was our Word of the Day on 08/29/2016. Hear the podcast!

Examples of rarefied in a Sentence

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

Recent Examples of rarefied from the Web

Mostly these just further inflamed mucous membranes already unhappy with the rarefied air, although someone was running something that evidently came in Tropical Punch flavor.

— jonathan m. gitlin, Ars Technica, "7:57:148—Volkswagen makes racing history with record-breaking electric race car," 29 June 2018
All three men belong to a rarefied group of opera enthusiasts from central Italy called Il Club dei 27.

— james barron, New York Times, "‘Viva Verdi,’ Say Fans With Very Verdian Names," 22 Apr. 2018
Certainly, the fans of Davis occupy a more rarefied space in the American imaginary than those of any Soundcloud rapper.

— danielle jackson, Longreads, "On Mourning, Learning a More Sober Fandom, and Letting Go," 28 June 2018
But—as Garrett Pell, Jonathan Martin, J. D. Greear, hundreds of alumni at Liberty University, and thousands of women of ChurchToo suggest—that rarefied and uncomfortable niche may not suit all Christians.

— virginia heffernan, WIRED, "ChurchToo and Mike Pence’s Crisis of Faith," 21 June 2018
That rarefied air, in which only the truly spectacular exist, was exclusively his domain for a night — an occasion to bask in the glow of an outpouring of accolades.

— drew sharp, Detroit Free Press, "Detroit Red Wings 1998 Stanley Cup flashback: Steve Yzerman's legacy," 16 June 2018
And unlike the rest of us, who do not breathe the same rarefied air that the Oscar winner and environmental activist also consumes, Haddish has had the opportunity to actually chat up DiCaprio.

— raisa bruner, Time, "How Tiffany Haddish Attempted to Turn Her Leonardo DiCaprio Crush Into Something More," 13 June 2018
Look at the World Cup rosters of the top 10 contenders according to international oddsmakers, the rarefied air the U.S. hopes to breathe one day.

— mark zeigler, sandiegouniontribune.com, "What's changed since U.S. failed to qualify for 2018 World Cup? Sadly, nothing," 11 June 2018
The people who populate her rarefied world come across as soulless at worst, latently miserable at best, more Anna Delvey than something to aspire to.

— julia felsenthal, Vogue, "Confessions of a Recovering Wannabe Carrie Bradshaw," 5 June 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'rarefied.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Did You Know?

Rarefied was formed from the verb rarefy, which derives from a combination of the Latin rarus ("thin" or "rare") with facere ("to make") and has meant "to make thin" since the 14th century. In its original uses back in the 1500s, the adjective rarefied was on the lean side too; it meant "made less dense" (as in "the fog lifted and we could breathe more easily in the rarefied air"). By the 17th century, rarefy had gained the sense "to refine or purify," and over time rarefied followed suit.

First Known Use of rarefied

14th century

in the meaning defined at sense 1

See Words from the same year

NEW! Time Traveler

RAREFIED Defined for English Language Learners

rarefied

adjective

Definition of rarefied for English Language Learners

: understood by only a small group of people : only for people who know about a particular thing
of air : not having much oxygen because of being high up in the atmosphere