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 company published it earlier this summer as a way to spotlight makers at the highest level of their technique, whose rarefied expertise might otherwise be at risk of extinction. —Naomi Rougeau, Robb Report, 31 Aug. 2025

The Gilded Heiress dips into the world of the wealthy, but its primary focus is on the working-class, which Shupe renders with electric vigor in a genre so often dominated by those breathing rarefied air. —EW.com, 28 Aug. 2025

The results skyrocketed Pasquantino into rarefied air and gave him the tools to help jump-start the Royals’ offense. —Kansas City Star, 28 Aug. 2025

Reaching the rarefied air of Haaland and Salah’s scoring prowess would require a much bigger leap. —Liam Twomey, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

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