Crossword clues for rarefied
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Rarefy \Rar"e*fy\ (r[a^]r"[-e]*f[imac]; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rarefied (r[a^]r"[-e]*f[imac]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Rarefying (r[a^]r"[-e]*f[imac]`[i^]ng).] [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.
Wiktionary
1 distant from lives and everyday concerns of ordinary people; esoteric, exclusive, select 2 elevated in style or nature, sublime; of high intellectual or moral value 3 (context of a gas etc. English) less dense than usual; thin alt. 1 distant from lives and everyday concerns of ordinary people; esoteric, exclusive, select 2 elevated in style or nature, sublime; of high intellectual or moral value 3 (context of a gas etc. English) less dense than usual; thin v
(en-past of: rarefy)
WordNet
adj. having low density; "rare gasses"; "lightheaded from the rarefied mountain air" [syn: rare, rarified]
reserved for an elite group [syn: rarified]
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" [syn: exalted, high-flown, high-minded, lofty, rarified, idealistic, noble-minded]
See rarefy
Usage examples of "rarefied".
Duffy breadied deeply several times, fearing that the rarefied mountain air might be inducing delirium.
The lesser attraction of this smaller planet and the reduced air pressure of its greatly rarefied atmosphere, afforded so little resistance to my earthly muscles that the ordinary exertion of the mere act of rising sent me several feet into the air and precipitated me upon my face in the soft and brilliant grass of this strange world.
Sugar had had their share of beefs in the past, in the three years since his retirement from the Dempsy PD he had become a first-rate gagger, one of a rarefied breed of PIs who, by creating dozens of false identities for themselves over the phone, could assemble a portfolio as thick as the Bible on anyone living or dead, without ever having to leave their apartment.
When the sun shone on the transparent icosahedron and its rays were focused in the box, the air was rarefied.
Initially there was a substance -- call it Ylem, the Proto-atom, whatever -- that exploded and gave rise to matter and energy, stellar clouds, spiral galaxies, and dark and bright nebulae, all floating in rarefied gas filled with radiation.
An ultra-condo would house five thousand or more families, ranging from proles on GAS in apartments on the lower levels, to the extremely wealthy in the rarefied heights, in swank penthouses and terrace apartments.
But it is surely not beyond the bounds of possibility that we may find pockets of air in the deeper valleys, or even that a rarefied air might linger over the entire surface?
Denver, Christa shifted into her most rarefied melodies: pointillistic licks that left in their wake only an aural impression of tension and of movement.
Let us recall His explicit and often-repeated assurances that every Assembly elected in that rarefied atmosphere of selflessness and detachment is, in truth, appointed of God, that its verdict is truly inspired, that one and all should submit to its decision unreservedly and with cheerfulness.
Cain could answer the rarefied mountain air was rent by the pounding rhythm of driving hoofs, and around the base of a hill up ahead swept the band of Utes, who broke into frenzied whoops of raging anticipation the instant they laid eyes on their quarry.
He therefore often failed wofully in adaptation, and his sermons occasionally went off into rarefied realms of moral space, where nothing human existed.
Pleased, she used me, and began teaching me things never mentioned in my four rarefied BMS years filled with enzyme kinetics and zebraic diseases.
On young worlds they bathed in the scarlet splendor of volcanoes, rhymed solemnly to each other and made love in the cold light of moons drawn close to dying mother worlds, dove headlong through the chromospheres of small suns to prolong their high on rarefied gases.
Copperhead Unit Zeta Five was a legend even in the rarefied atmosphere that public opinion reserved for Copperheads in general.
And yet, Holmes went on to explain, this same man was immune to suspicion, a respected mathematics professor in fact, and the celebrated author of a brilliant treatise on the binomial theorem as well as of The Dynamics of an Asteroid, a book of rarefied scientific scholarship much ahead of its time.