rarefy
/ˈrɛːrɪfʌɪ
/(also rarify)
verb (rarefies, rarefying, rarefied)
Make or become less dense or solid: [with object]: air rarefies and degrounds the physical body [no object]: as the shell continues to expand and rarefy, astronomers may eventually be able to see characteristic gamma rays from the radioactivity within...
- Sound waves propagate through such materials by periodically compressing and rarefying the medium.
- I know the air is pretty rarified in academia, but has the good professor considered taking an evening course in the university of life?
- It's one of those rarified treats when you are simply left reaching for words.
Derivatives
rarefication
- It is not just the stress-busting purpose or imparting the feel-good factor, but a rarefication of the body and mind.
rarefactive
- The features suggested that the clear cell change resulted from ballooning and rarefactive changes of mitochondria.
Origin
Late Middle English: from Old French rarefier, or medieval Latin rareficare, based on Latin rarus 'rare' + facere 'make'.