Definitions and meaning of rare
rare
English
Pronunciation
- (MLE) IPA(key): /ɹɛ/
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ɹɛə(ɹ)/
- (Ireland) IPA(key): [ɹɜɹ]
- (General American, Canada) IPA(key): /ɹɛɚ/, /ɹɛɹ/
- (General Australian) IPA(key): /ɹeː/
- (New Zealand, without the cheer–chair merger) IPA(key): /ɹeə/
- (New Zealand, cheer–chair merger) IPA(key): /ɹiə/
- (Scotland) IPA(key): /ɹeɹ/
- (Lancashire, fair–fur merger) IPA(key): /ɹɜː(ɹ)/
- Rhymes: -ɛə(ɹ)
- Homophone: rear (cheer–chair merger)
Etymology 1
From Middle English rare, from Old French rare, rere (“rare, uncommon”), from Latin rārus (“loose, spaced apart, thin, infrequent”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁reh₁- (“friable, thin”). Replaced native Middle English gesen (“rare, scarce”) (from Old English gǣsne), Middle English seld (“rare, uncommon”) (from Old English selden), and Middle English seldscene (“rare, rarely seen, infrequent”) (from Old English seldsēne).
Adjective
rare (comparative rarer, superlative rarest)
- Very uncommon; scarce.
- Synonyms: scarce, selcouth, seld, selly, geason, uncommon; see also Thesaurus:rare
- Antonyms: common, frequent; see also Thesaurus:common
- (of a gas) Thin; of low density.
- (UK, slang) Good; enjoyable.
- 1981, Chris Difford (lyrics), Glenn Tilbrook (vocal), "Vanity Fair" (song):
- Sees her reflection in a butcher shop.
- She finds it all quite rare
- That her meat's all vanity fair.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
Noun
rare (plural rares)
- (gaming) A scarce or uncommon item.
Etymology 2
From a dialectal variant of rear, from Middle English rere, from Old English hrēr, hrēre (“not thoroughly cooked, underdone, lightly boiled”), from hrēran (“to move, shake, agitate”), from Proto-Germanic *hrōzijaną (“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱroHs- (“to mix, stir, cook”). Related to Old English hrōr (“stirring, busy, active, strong, brave”). More at rear.
Alternative forms
Adjective
rare (comparative rarer or more rare, superlative rarest or most rare)
- (cooking) Particularly of meat, especially beefsteak: cooked very lightly, so the meat is still red.
- Antonym: well done
Derived terms
Translations
Etymology 3
Variant of rear.
Verb
rare (third-person singular simple present rares, present participle raring, simple past and past participle rared)
- (US, intransitive) To rear, rise up, start backwards.
- (US, transitive) To rear, bring up, raise.
Usage notes
- Principal current, non-literary use is of the present participle raring with a verb in "raring to". The principal verb in that construction is go. Thus, raring to go ("eager (to start something)") is the expression in which rare is most often encountered as a verb.
Etymology 4
Compare rather, rath.
Adjective
rare (comparative more rare, superlative most rare)
- (obsolete) Early.
References
- Rare in The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
Anagrams
Danish
Adjective
rare
- plural and definite singular attributive of rar
Dutch
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Adjective
rare
- inflection of raar:
- masculine/feminine singular attributive
- definite neuter singular attributive
- plural attributive
Noun
rare m (plural raren, diminutive rareke n)
- weird person
- Synonym: rare vogel
References
French
Etymology
Borrowed (in this form) from Latin rārus. Compare the inherited Old French rer, rere.
Pronunciation
Adjective
rare (plural rares)
- rare
Derived terms
Further reading
- “rare”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
German
Pronunciation
Adjective
rare
- inflection of rar:
- strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
- strong nominative/accusative plural
- weak nominative all-gender singular
- weak accusative feminine/neuter singular
Ido
Pronunciation
Adverb
rare
- rarely
- Antonyms: freque, ofte
Italian
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈra.re/
- Rhymes: -are
- Hyphenation: rà‧re
Adjective
rare
- feminine plural of raro
Anagrams
Latin
Etymology 1
From rārus + -ē.
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈraː.reː]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈraː.re]
Adverb
rārē (comparative rārius, superlative rārissimē)
- thinly, sparsely, here and there
- rarely, seldom
Etymology 2
See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈraː.rɛ]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈraː.re]
Adjective
rāre
- vocative masculine singular of rārus
References
- “rare”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- rare in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old French rer and Latin rārus.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈraːr(ə)/, /ˈrɛːr(ə)/
Adjective
rare
- airy, vacuous
- porous, breathable
- sparsely spread
- rare, uncommon, scarce
- small, little
Related terms
Descendants
References
- “rār(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-29.
Norman
Etymology
Borrowed from Latin rārus.
Adjective
rare m or f
- (Jersey) rare
Derived terms
Norwegian Bokmål
Adjective
rare
- inflection of rar:
- definite singular
- plural
Norwegian Nynorsk
Adjective
rare
- inflection of rar:
- definite singular
- plural
Swedish
Adjective
rare
- definite natural masculine singular of rar
Anagrams
Yola
Etymology
From Middle English rare, from Old French rer, from Latin rārus.
Pronunciation
Adjective
rare
- rare
References
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 116
Source: wiktionary.org