rarity

WOTD - 1 October 2008    

English

Etymology

Latin rāritās; compare French rareté. See also rare.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈɹɛə.ɹə.tɪ/
• (US) IPA: /ˈɹɛɹ.ə.ti/

• Audio (US)

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Noun

rarity (plural rarities)

1. A rare object.
2. A measure of the scarcity of an object.
3. (of a gas) Thinness; the property of having low density
   • 1927, H. P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath:

     Only the increasing rarity bothered him, and he thought that perhaps it was this which had turned the heads of other travellers and excited those absurd tales of night-gaunts whereby they explained the loss of such climbers as fell from these perilous paths.

Synonyms

• rareness

Related terms

• rare
• rarely

Translations

rare object

Croatian: rijétkōst (hr) f., rarìtēt (hr) m. Czech: vzácnost (cs) f. Estonian: haruldus (et) Finnish: harvinaisuus (fi) Hungarian: ritkaság (hu), kuriózum (hu) Italian: rarità (it) f. Latin: rāritās (la) f.

Lithuanian: retenybė (lt) f. Polish: rarytas (pl) m., biały kruk (pl) m. Russian: редкость (ru) f., раритет (ru) m. Spanish: rareza (es) f. Swedish: raritet (sv) Telugu: వింత (te) (vinta)

measure of the scarcity of an object

Croatian: rijétkōst (hr) f., rarìtēt (hr) m. Czech: vzácnost (cs) f. Estonian: haruldus (et) Finnish: harvinaisuus (fi) Hungarian: ritkaság (hu) Italian: scarsità (it) f.

Latin: rāritās (la) f. Lithuanian: retumas (lt) m. Polish: rzadkość (pl) f. Russian: редкость (ru) f. Spanish: raridad (es) f., rareza (es) f. Swedish: sällsynthet (sv), rarhet (sv)

References

• rarity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913