rarefy
Americanverb (used with object)
-
to make rare or rarer; make less dense.
to rarefy a gas.
-
to make more refined, spiritual, or exalted.
verb (used without object)
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of rarefy
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English rarefien, from Middle French rarefier, from Medieval Latin rārificāre, from Latin rārēfacere, equivalent to rārē-, irregular, unexplained combining form of rārus + facere “to make”; see origin at rare 1, -fy
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Although these sculptures pay tribute to commercialism, they rarefy it to something austere — or at least as austere as anything with pulsing green lights can be.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 19, 2018
Of course it’s serious, and art is serious, but I’m not going to rarefy it.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 16, 2011
It contains moist air and a movable diaphragm or piston to rarefy it suddenly.
From Time Magazine Archive
The rarefy of the atmosphere continued to affect the wood-work of the wagons, and the wheels were incessantly falling to pieces.
From The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U. S. A., in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West by Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville
But extend this vapour, rarefy it; from so narrow a room as our natural bodies, to any politic body, to a state.
From Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions Together with Death's Duel by John Donne
She is aware that she’s had a rarefied career.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 14, 2026
In the same way that regional brands like Shake Shack and In-N-Out have maintained cult followings for their novelty, Cane’s has no doubt benefited from the same kind of rarefied air.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
A decorative hanger-on, dependent on her rich friends and relatives, she is now 29 and still single when many more ordinary women in her rarefied New York circle have made successful matches.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026
On Friday, Trump will pay a visit to Zhongnanhai, a rarefied compound where China's leaders live and work.
From BBC ● May 13, 2026
McCoy feared that the rarefied air in the Enterprise was enervating the crew.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
After rarefying to 5,000 sequences per sample, a total of 307,572 unique sequences were contained in the 96 studies and 23,828 samples of the ‘QC-filtered’ Deblur 90-bp observation table.
From Nature ● Oct. 31, 2017
And here, it is proper to add, that all aromatics, by rarefying the blood, are cordial.
From A Treatise on Foreign Teas Abstracted From An Ingenious Work, Lately Published, Entitled An Essay On the Nerves by Hugh Smith
On rarefying the gas still more, a few large ramifications were obtained of a pale bluish colour, utterly unlike those in nitrogen.
From Experimental Researches in Electricity, Volume 1 by Michael Faraday
Good again! the hot-water plate represents the land rarefying the air over it.
From No Name by Wilkie Collins
Funnels for clearing ships' holds of foul air, on the principle of the rarefying power of heat.
From The Sailor's Word-Book An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, including Some More Especially Military and Scientific, but Useful to Seamen; as well as Archaisms of Early Voyagers, etc. by Sir Edward Belcher
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