rare
rare (rer)
adjective rar′er, rar′·est
- not frequently encountered; scarce; unusual
- unusually good; excellent a rare scholar
- not dense; thin; tenuous rare atmosphere
- Obsolete not close together; scattered
Etymology: ME < MFr < L rarus, loose, thin, scarce, prob. < IE base *(e)re-, loose > Gr erēmos, solitary
rare (rer)
adjective rar′er, rar′·est
not completely cooked; underdone; partly raw: said esp. of meat
Etymology: earlier rear < ME rere < OE hrere, lightly boiled (basic sense prob. “disturbed, moved”) < base of hreran, to move
rare (rer)
intransitive verb rared, rar′·ing
- Dialectal rear (esp. & )
- ☆ Informal to be eager, enthusiastic, etc.: used in prp. raring to go
rare
modif.
Uncommon
unusual, singular, extraordinary; see unusual 1, 2.Scarce
sparse, few, scanty, meager, limited, short, expensive, precious, out of circulation, off the market, in great demand, occasional, uncommon, isolated, scattered, infrequent, deficient, almost unobtainable, few and far between*; see also unique 1.Antonyms
profuse, cheap*, abounding. Choice
exceptional, select, matchless, superlative; see excellent, unique 1.Thin
tenuous, light, rarefied; see thin 1, 5.Not completely cooked
undercooked, underdone, not cooked, not done, lightly cooked, nearly raw, red, bloody, saignant, bleu (both French), not thoroughly cooked; see also raw 1.
Adjective modifier
- Very: Blood & Lymphatic System Disorders Very Rare: Blood count changes ( leucopenia, thrombocytopenia ).
Modifies a noun
- occasion: You no longer take showers even on the rare occasion there is hot water.
- breed: Ah singing drummers, they're a rare breed.
- occurrence: That's a fairly rare occurrence in this business.
- specie: The rarest species are most at risk of extinction.
- bird: Our small groups have the chance to observe and record some of Britain's rarest birds!
- commodity: Their group particularly prides itself on providing a very high level of one to one personal client service - a rare commodity nowadays.
Modifying Another Word
- extremely: Burials of this period are extremely rare in the region.
- comparatively: Shortly after the restart, Hursts fell victim to that classic, if comparatively rare sucker punch: a goal direct from a corner.
- relatively: These meadows are relatively rare in the UK; Northern Ireland has a significant proportion of this resource.
- nationally: A cluster of temporary ponds has already yielded a record of a nationally rare water beetle.
- exceedingly: The region has examples of the exceedingly rare survival of funerary monuments above ground.
- very: Exposure to uranium is a very rare cause of lung cancer.
Infinitive complement
- find: It's rare to find more than one major story on each page of these papers.
- encounter: What people have said about the book: âItâs rare to encounter a work as authoritative and accessible as this.
- see: It is rare to see a walker in the middle of nowhere in the hot Florida sun.
Used with adjective complement
- become: However, in recent years it has become rare for a trainee to come into the industry at this level.
- seem: In any case, such imitation seems surprisingly rare except in a modeling experiment using specially prepared videos.
Preposition: in
- lowland: The pool system is a particularly important feature, as these are generally very rare in Northern Irish lowland raised bogs.
- cultivation: This activity is rare in cultivation in global terms.
Suddenly, as rare things will, it vanished.
Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should dwell.
Nothing is thought rare Which is not new and follow'd, yet we know That what was worne some twenty yeare agoe, Comes into grace againe.
O rare Ben Jonson.
Oft seldan hw×r ×fter leodhyre lytle hwile bongar bugeth. It is very rare that, after the fall of a prince, the deadly spear rests for long.
And what is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever come perfect days.
In this country it is rare for anyone, let alone a publisher, to take writers seriously.
Browse dictionary entries near rare
- rara avis
- rapturous
- rapture of the deep
- rapture
- raptorial
- raptor
- rapt
- rapscallion
- rapprochement (French)
- rapprochement
- rare bird
- rare earth
- rare-earth element
- rarebit
- raree show
- rarefied
- rarefy
- rarely
- rareripe
- rarify
