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

The brand offers a cohesive alpine wardrobe that performs at elevation and also dazzles in the ski world’s most rarefied spaces. —Todd Plummer, Robb Report, 25 Feb. 2026

Suddenly he’s found not just a place in Jennifer’s rarefied world, but a starring role, purely on talent and without her help at all. —ABC News, 25 Feb. 2026

That’s where the campaign shows how even the most rarefied properties are being packaged for a social‑media audience. —David Caraccio, Sacbee.com, 21 Feb. 2026

Sam eventually secures a gig babysitting his therapist’s (Hirsch) three granddaughters, which in turn thrusts him into the rarefied (if a bit closed) world of their parents, including Alessandro Nivola as their would-be rockstar dad David and Peet as their former movie star mom Dianne. —Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 19 Feb. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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