rarefied
/ˈrɛːrɪfʌɪd
/adjective
1(Of air, especially that at high altitudes) of lower pressure than usual; thin: every ounce carried counts triple when you’re trudging uphill in rarefied air...
- Denver's rarefied air adds about 10 percent to the length of fly balls, making extra base hits too easy.
- At almost 5,000 ft, it is surrounded by rarefied air, seductive silence and dreamy peaks.
- At 4900m Konzke La is the highest point of this trail; all but the fittest puff and pant in such rarefied air.
2Distant from the lives and concerns of ordinary people; esoteric: rarefied scholarly pursuits...
- But unlike the tradition of poetry as a rarefied pursuit, the Liverpool poets took their writing to the stage and rapidly developed a huge following.
- At the beginning of the 1960s a scholarship boy attends a rarefied private school obsessed with literature.
- She grew up in a rarefied world of private girls' schools and arranged marriages.
Synonyms
esoteric, exclusive, select, private, cliquish;
elevated, exalted, lofty