rarefy

American  

[rair-uh-fahy] / ˈrɛər əˌfaɪ /

verb (used with object)

rarefied, rarefying

1. to make rare or rarer; make less dense.

   to rarefy a gas.

2. to make more refined, spiritual, or exalted.

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verb (used without object)

rarefied, rarefying

1. to become rare or less dense; become thinned.

   Moisture rarefies when heated.

rarefy British  

/ ˈrɛərɪˌfaɪ /

verb

1. to make or become rarer or less dense; thin out

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Other Word Forms

• rarefiable adjective
• rarefier noun

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

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

It will be well also to compare such words as stupefy and stupidity, rarity and rarefy.

From The Art Of Writing & Speaking The English Language Word-Study and Composition & Rhetoric by Cody, Sherwin

But as such means are not at disposal, it becomes necessary to place the terminal in a bulb and rarefy the air in the same.

From Experiments with Alternate Currents of High Potential and High Frequency by Tesla, Nikola

Related Words

• attenuate