RAREFY (rarefied)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: rarefied   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does rarefy mean? 

• RAREFY (verb)
  The verb RAREFY has 3 senses:

1. lessen the density or solidity of

2. make more subtle or refined

3. weaken the consistency of (a chemical substance)

  Familiarity information: RAREFY used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RAREFY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they rarefy    ... he / she / it rarefies   
Past simple: rarefied   
Past participle: rarefied   
-ing form: rarefying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Lessen the density or solidity of

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Context example:

The bones are rarefied

Hypernyms (to "rarefy" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

rarefaction (a decrease in the density of something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Make more subtle or refined

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

rarefy; sublimate; subtilize

Hypernyms (to "rarefy" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Weaken the consistency of (a chemical substance)

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

attenuate; rarefy

Hypernyms (to "rarefy" is one way to...):

weaken (lessen the strength of)

Domain category:

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

rarefaction (a decrease in the density of something)

 Context examples 

Perhaps Professor Summerlee may have an observation to make, he said, and the two savants ascended together into some rarefied scientific atmosphere, where the possibilities of a modification of the birth-rate were weighed against the decline of the food supply as a check in the struggle for existence.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Of course, Beaumont was the real boss; but he lived in the rarefied atmosphere of some Olympian height from which he could distinguish nothing smaller than an international crisis or a split in the Cabinet.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)