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Answer for the clue "A decrease in the density of something ", 11 letters:
rarefaction

Word definitions for rarefaction in dictionaries

Wiktionary Word definitions in Wiktionary
n. a reduction in the density of a material, especially that of a fluid

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
c.1600, from Middle French raréfaction or directly from Medieval Latin rarefactionem (nominative rarefactio ), noun of action from past participle stem of Latin rarefacere (see rarefy ). Used chiefly in reference to gases.

Wikipedia Word definitions in Wikipedia
In ecology , rarefaction is a technique to assess species richness from the results of sampling. Rarefaction allows the calculation of species richness for a given number of individual samples, based on the construction of so-called rarefaction curves. ...

WordNet Word definitions in WordNet
n. a decrease in the density of something; "a sound wave causes periodic rarefactions in its medium"

The Collaborative International Dictionary Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Rarefaction \Rar`e*fac"tion\ (r[a^]r`[-e]*f[a^]k"sh[u^]n), n. The act or process of rarefying; the state of being rarefied; -- opposed to condensation; as, the rarefaction of air.

Usage examples of rarefaction.

Diffuse spotty rarefaction, cortical thinning, penciling of at least one phalange.

The rarefaction of the atmosphere produced that painful oppression known by the name of PUNA.

Waves of compression and rarefaction built new nodes of compacted matter and left dark striations between them.

On the other hand, it was very cold, and I was conscious of that peculiar nausea which goes with rarefaction of the air.

Charles Comstock, in Natural Philosophy, and we spent many hours studying the compression and rarefaction of gases in the engines conceived by Mr.

I now began to experience, at intervals, severe pain in the head, especially about the ears, due to the rarefaction of the air.

Hitherto life had successfully adapted itself to the progressive rarefaction of atmosphere, but the human physique had already reached the limit of adaptability in this respect.

They went outside, into the polluted rarefaction of the atmosphere, and Stile donned his Phaze clothing, which Sheen had brought.

Anaximenes affirmed that it was air, of which all things were formed by rarefaction and condensation: on such a supposition it could have no permanent personal identity.

Nothing, for example, could be really more profound than the difference between waves of compression and rarefaction transmitted through the luminiferous ether and the translation of their impact into light.

For miles and miles in the early morning we were climbing up the mountains, till we reached a plateau where the wind blew piercingly keen, and my fingers ached with the cold, and the rarefaction in the atmosphere made breathing uneasy.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION The production of extraperceptual auditory stimuli involves manipulation of the laryngeal musculature in a manner that generates overtones well above the 20 000 cycles per second (cps) limit for conscious reception Bene Gessent training enables adepts to control the thyro-arytenoid vocalis and cncothyroid muscles so as to intentionally regulate vocal quality in a man ner that generated specific frequencies with in the 25,000-35,000 cps range Normal phonation, caused by tension of the vocal folds to effect condensations and rarefactions of the airstream, operates within a range of 500 to 4,000 cps, with random and only partially controlled overtones .

The landscape hunched upward in spreading compression waves, then collapsed in the rarefactions that followed.

She wondered if these gravitational perturbations, these spreading rarefactions and condensations, would have any long-term consequence, changing the pattern of subsequent planetary formation.