RAREFIED

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does rarefied mean? 

• RAREFIED (adjective)
  The adjective RAREFIED has 2 senses:

1. having low density

2. of high moral or intellectual value; elevated in nature or style

  Familiarity information: RAREFIED used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RAREFIED (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having low density

Synonyms:

rare; rarefied; rarified

Context example:

lightheaded from the rarefied mountain air

Similar:

thin (relatively thin in consistency or low in density; not viscous)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of high moral or intellectual value; elevated in nature or style

Synonyms:

elevated; exalted; grand; high-flown; high-minded; idealistic; lofty; noble-minded; rarefied; rarified; sublime

Context example:

a grand purpose

Similar:

noble (having or showing or indicative of high or elevated character)

 Context examples 

Perhaps Professor Summerlee may have an observation to make, he said, and the two savants ascended together into some rarefied scientific atmosphere, where the possibilities of a modification of the birth-rate were weighed against the decline of the food supply as a check in the struggle for existence.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Of course, Beaumont was the real boss; but he lived in the rarefied atmosphere of some Olympian height from which he could distinguish nothing smaller than an international crisis or a split in the Cabinet.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)