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rare
From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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See also: 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
- Black pearls are very rare and therefore very valuable.
- 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3:
- Plant breeding is always a numbers game. […] The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.
- 2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Technology: Augmentations Codex entry:
- While many material components in Andromeda are familiar, we have also discovered rarer and more valuable materials; attributable to exposure to the Scourge, or mysterious alien technology.
- (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.
- 1981, Chris Difford (lyrics), Glenn Tilbrook (vocal), "Vanity Fair" (song):
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
very uncommon
|
thin density gas
Noun
rare (plural rares)
- (gaming) A scarce or uncommon item.
- 1995, George Baxter, Larry W. Smith, Mastering Magic Cards, page 116:
- Most of the time, you do this by trading low-valued rares for more valuable ones or trading uncommons for rares. Other times it's trading cards that are in print for ones that are out of print, or low-value rares for good uncommons.
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
- 1717, John Dryden, “Book VIII. [The Story of Baucis and Philemon.]”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 285:
- Then Curds and Cream, the Flow'r of Country Fare, / And new-laid Eggs, which Baucis’ buſie Care / Turn’d by a gentle Fire, and roaſted rare.
Derived terms
Translations
cooked very lightly
|
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.
- 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 328:
- Frank pretended to rare back as if bedazzled, shielding his eyes with a forearm.
- (US, transitive) To rear, bring up, raise.
- 2013, Janet Peery, What the Thunder Said: A Novella and Stories, →ISBN:
- Here I have to say that I was walking along dark-hearted, my nose out of joint about Audie's notice of her, for just as quickly as my feelings kindled, my old envy rared.
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
Adjective
rare (comparative more rare, superlative most rare)
- (obsolete) Early.
- 1614–1615, Homer, “The Sixth Book of Homer’s Odysseys”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume I, London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC, page 147, lines 420–423:
- The men, that sway / In work of those tools that so fit our state, / Are rude mechanicals, that rare and late / Work in the market-place;
References
- Rare in The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English
Anagrams
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Danish
Adjective
rare
- plural and definite singular attributive of rar
Dutch
Alternative forms
Pronunciation
Adjective
rare
- inflection of raar:
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)
Derived terms
Further reading
- “rare”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
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German
Pronunciation
Adjective
rare
- inflection of rar:
Ido
Pronunciation
Adverb
rare
Italian
Pronunciation
Adjective
rare
Anagrams
Latin
Etymology 1
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈraː.reː]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈraː.re]
Adverb
rārē (comparative rārius, superlative rārissimē)
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
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.
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Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old French rer and Latin rārus.
Pronunciation
Adjective
rare
Related terms
Descendants
References
- “rār(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 29 March 2018.
Norman
Etymology
Adjective
rare m or f
Derived terms
- rarement (“rarely”)
Norwegian Bokmål
Adjective
rare
Norwegian Nynorsk
Adjective
rare
Swedish
Adjective
rare
Anagrams
Yola
Etymology
From Middle English rare, from Old French rer, from Latin rārus.
Pronunciation
Adjective
rare
- rare
- 1867, CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page 116, lines 2-4:
- ye wake o'hopes ee-blighte, stampe na yer zwae be rare an lightzom.
- the consequence of disappointed hopes, confirms your rule to be rare and enlightened.
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
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