Adjacent Words

rarefied definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: having low density; "rare gasses"; "lightheaded from the rarefied mountain air" [syn: rare, rarefied, rarified]
2: of high moral or intellectual value; elevated in nature or style; "an exalted ideal"; "argue in terms of high-flown ideals"- Oliver Franks; "a noble and lofty concept"; "a grand purpose" [syn: exalted, elevated, sublime, grand, high-flown, high-minded, lofty, rarefied, rarified, idealistic, noble-minded]

Merriam Webster's

also rarified adjective Date: 1941 1. of, relating to, or interesting to a select group ; esoteric 2. very high

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Rarefy Rar"e*fy, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rarefied; p. pr. & vb. n. Rarefying.] [F. rar['e]fier; L. rarus rare + -ficare (in comp.) to make; cf. L. rarefacere. See -fy.] To make rare, thin, porous, or less dense; to expand or enlarge without adding any new portion of matter to; -- opposed to condense.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

1. If you talk about the rarefied atmosphere of a place or institution, you are expressing your disapproval of it, because it has a special social or academic status that makes it very different from ordinary life. It is important for the state's future administrators to get out of the rarefied air of the capital. ADJ: usu ADJ n [disapproval] 2. Rarefied air is air that does not contain much oxygen, for example in mountain areas. ...living at very high altitudes where the atmosphere is rarefied. ADJ

Moby Thesaurus

adulterated, air-built, airy, attenuate, attenuated, boyish, chimerical, clannish, cliquish, cloud-built, cut, dainty, delicate, diaphanous, dilute, diluted, dreamlike, elevated, esoteric, ethereal, exalted, exclusive, fanciful, fatuitous, fatuous, fine, fine-drawn, finespun, flimsy, frail, gaseous, gauzy, girlish, gossamer, gossamery, gracile, high, illusory, imaginary, insubstantial, lacy, lean, light, lofty, misty, noble, papery, phantomlike, private, rare, reduced, scant, scanty, select, shadowy, slender, slenderish, slight, slight-made, slim, slimmish, slinky, small, sparse, spirituous, sublime, subtile, subtle, svelte, sylphlike, tenuous, thin, thin-bodied, thin-set, thin-spun, thinned, thinned-out, thinnish, threadlike, uncompact, uncompressed, unreal, unsubstantial, vague, vaporous, wasp-waisted, watered, watered-down, watery, weak, willowy, windy, wiredrawn, wispy