rare

PronunciationEdit

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ɹɛə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ɹɛəɹ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛə(r)

Etymology 1Edit

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 *ḱera-, *ḱrā- (“to mix, stir, cook”). Related to Old English hrōr (“stirring, busy, active, strong, brave”). More at rear.

Alternative formsEdit

• reer, rere (UK)

AdjectiveEdit

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

1. (cooking, particularly meats) Cooked very lightly, so the meat is still red (in the case of steak or beef in the general sense).
   • Dryden

     New-laid eggs, which Baucis' busy care / Turned by a gentle fire, and roasted rare.

SynonymsEdit

• (cooked very lightly): sanguinary

AntonymsEdit

• (cooked very lightly): well done

Derived termsEdit

• medium-rare

TranslationsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle English rare, from Old French rare, rere (“rare, uncommon”), from Latin rārus (“loose, spaced apart, thin, infrequent”), from Proto-Indo-European *er(e)-, *rē- (“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 seldsene ("rare, rarely seen, infrequent"; from Old Norse sialdsēnn; see seldsome).

AdjectiveEdit

rare (comparative rarer, superlative rarest)

1. Very uncommon; scarce.

   Black pearls are very rare and therefore very valuable.

   • 2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, 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.

2. (of a gas) Thin; of low density.

SynonymsEdit

• (very uncommon): scarce, selcouth, seld, seldsome, selly, geason, uncommon

AntonymsEdit

• (very uncommon): common

Derived termsEdit

• rare bird
• rare earth mineral

Related termsEdit

• rarity

TranslationsEdit

Etymology 3Edit

Variant of rear.

VerbEdit

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 2007, p. 328:

     Frank pretended to rare back as if bedazzled, shielding his eyes with a forearm.

2. (US, transitive) To rear, bring up, raise.

Usage notesEdit

• (Discuss⁽⁺⁾ this sense) 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 4Edit

Compare rather, rath.

AdjectiveEdit

rare (comparative more rare, superlative most rare)

1. (obsolete) early
   • Chapman

     Rude mechanicals that rare and late / Work in the market place.

AnagramsEdit

• rear

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AdjectiveEdit

rare

1. definite of rar
2. plural form of rar

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PronunciationEdit

• Audio

  (file)

AdjectiveEdit

rare

1. Inflected form of raar

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EtymologyEdit

From Latin rārus.

PronunciationEdit

• IPA^(key): /ʁɑʁ/

• Audio (FR)

  (file)

AdjectiveEdit

rare (masculine and feminine, plural rares)

1. rare

Derived termsEdit

• rareté
• rarissime

AnagramsEdit

• erra

External linksEdit

• “rare” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

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AdjectiveEdit

rare

1. inflected form of rar

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AdverbEdit

rare

1. rarely

AntonymsEdit

• freque
• ofte

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AdjectiveEdit

rare f pl

1. feminine plural of raro

AnagramsEdit

• erra

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EtymologyEdit

From Latin rārus.

AdjectiveEdit

rare (epicene, plural rares)

1. rare

Derived termsEdit

• rarement (“rarely”)

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AdjectiveEdit

rāre

1. vocative masculine singular of rārus

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AdjectiveEdit

rare

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of rar.