rarefied

reI rih faId

adjective

1. of or belonging to a relatively small or select group.
example: A Paris title would place him in rarefied company: one of seven men to have won all four majors in a career.

2. elevated; exalted; refined.
example: Visiting a Blue Bottle cafe is a rarefied experience, from the time it takes to get a cup of coffee – a barista makes one cup at a time, grinding the beans, then stirring the grounds while pouring in the water – to details like soft-scrambled eggs from pasture-raised chickens pillowed between crustless slices of Acme bread.

3. characterized by a lack of density; thin.
example: The Martian fleet continued the impossible chase until the limits of the navigable atmosphere, about eight earth-miles above the surface, was reached. Here the air was evidently too rarefied for their wings to act upon.