rarefied

adjective rar·e·fied \ ˈrer-ə-ˌfīd \

variants: or less commonly rarified

|Updated on: 19 Jun 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

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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

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
That's far less true in today's rarefied world of streaming, as the latest season comes five years after the last, at a moment when Netflix is awash in original programming.

— brian lowry, CNN, "'Arrested Development' returns with more dysfunctional fun," 22 May 2018
Edouardo Jordan, a black chef in Seattle, reached rarefied air by taking home not one but two of the coveted medals.

— justin phillips, San Francisco Chronicle, "Black chefs hopeful, skeptical as culinary world grows more inclusive," 28 May 2018
The Milwaukee Brewers reached some rarefied air Wednesday afternoon at Miller Park.

— tom haudricourt, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Brewers 9, Diamondbacks 2: Offense rolls as team gets off to its best 50-game start ever," 23 May 2018
The #MeToo movement exploded in the rarefied confines of Hollywood, politics, the media, and in large corporations, among white-collar workers.

— yvonne abraham, BostonGlobe.com, "Bill Cosby’s conviction brings change but not enough," 28 Apr. 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

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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