Wiktionary

rare

English

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Pronunciation

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Etymology 1

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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

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rare (comparative rarer, superlative rarest)

  1. Very uncommon; scarce.
    Black pearls are very rare and therefore very valuable.
    Synonyms: scarce, selcouth, seld, selly, geason, uncommon; see also Thesaurus:rare
    Antonyms: common, frequent; see also Thesaurus:common
    • 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.
  2. (of a gas) Thin; of low density.
  3. (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
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Translations
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Noun

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rare (plural rares)

  1. (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

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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

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Adjective

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rare (comparative rarer or more rare, superlative rarest or most rare)

  1. (cooking) Particularly of meat, especially beefsteak: cooked very lightly, so the meat is still red.
    Antonym: well done
Derived terms
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Translations
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Etymology 3

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Variant of rear.

Verb

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rare (third-person singular simple present rares, present participle raring, simple past and past participle rared)

  1. (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.
  2. (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
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  • 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

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Compare rather, rath.

Adjective

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rare (comparative more rare, superlative most rare)

  1. (obsolete) Early.

References

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  • Rare in The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English

Anagrams

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Danish

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Adjective

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rare

  1. plural and definite singular attributive of rar

Dutch

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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rare

  1. inflection of raar:
    1. masculine/feminine singular attributive
    2. definite neuter singular attributive
    3. plural attributive

Noun

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rare m (plural raren, diminutive rareke n)

  1. weird person
    Synonym: rare vogel

References

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French

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Etymology

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Borrowed (in this form) from Latin rārus. Compare the inherited Old French rer, rere.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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rare (plural rares)

  1. rare

Derived terms

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Further reading

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Anagrams

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German

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Pronunciation

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Adjective

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rare

  1. inflection of rar:
    1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
    2. strong nominative/accusative plural
    3. weak nominative all-gender singular
    4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Ido

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Pronunciation

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Adverb

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rare

  1. rarely
    Antonyms: freque, ofte

Italian

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Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈra.re/
  • Rhymes: -are
  • Hyphenation: rà‧re

Adjective

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rare

  1. feminine plural of raro

Anagrams

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Latin

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Etymology 1

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From rārus +‎ -ē.

Pronunciation

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Adverb

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rārē (comparative rārius, superlative rārissimē)

  1. thinly, sparsely, here and there
  2. rarely, seldom

Etymology 2

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See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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rāre

  1. vocative masculine singular of rārus

References

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  • “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

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From Old French rer and Latin rārus.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /ˈraːr(ə)/, /ˈrɛːr(ə)/

Adjective

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rare

  1. airy, vacuous
  2. porous, breathable
  3. sparsely spread
  4. rare, uncommon, scarce
  5. small, little
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Descendants

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  • English: rare
  • Yola: rare

References

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Norman

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Etymology

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Borrowed from Latin rārus.

Adjective

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rare m or f

  1. (Jersey) rare

Derived terms

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Norwegian Bokmål

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Adjective

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rare

  1. inflection of rar:
    1. definite singular
    2. plural

Norwegian Nynorsk

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Adjective

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rare

  1. inflection of rar:
    1. definite singular
    2. plural

Swedish

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Adjective

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rare

  1. definite natural masculine singular of rar

Anagrams

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Yola

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Etymology

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From Middle English rare, from Old French rer, from Latin rārus.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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rare

  1. 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

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  • 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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Note 3