rare

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Contents

English [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

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 *hrōzijanan (“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 forms [edit]

Adjective [edit]

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.
Synonyms [edit]
Antonyms [edit]
Derived terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
cooked very lightly

Etymology 2 [edit]

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).

Adjective [edit]

rare (comparative rarer, superlative rarest)

  1. Very uncommon; scarce.
    Black pearls are very rare and therefore, very valuable.
  2. (of a gas) thin; of low density
Synonyms [edit]
Antonyms [edit]
Derived terms [edit]
Related terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
very uncommon
thin density gas

Etymology 3 [edit]

Variant of rear.

Verb [edit]

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.

Anagrams [edit]

Danish [edit]

Adjective [edit]

rare

  1. definite of rar
  2. plural of rar

Dutch [edit]

Adjective [edit]

rare

  1. the inflected formFAQ of raar

French [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Latin rārus.

Pronunciation [edit]

Adjective [edit]

rare (masculine and feminine, plural rares)

  1. rare

Derived terms [edit]

Anagrams [edit]

German [edit]

Adjective [edit]

rare

  1. inflected form of rar

Ido [edit]

Adverb [edit]

rare

  1. rarely

Antonyms [edit]

Italian [edit]

Adjective [edit]

rare f pl

  1. feminine plural of raro

Anagrams [edit]

Jèrriais [edit]

Etymology [edit]

From Latin rārus.

Adjective [edit]

rare (epicene, plural rares)

  1. rare

Latin [edit]

Adjective [edit]

rāre

  1. vocative masculine singular of rārus

Swedish [edit]

Adjective [edit]

rare

  1. absolute definite natural masculine form of rar.
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