rare Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective satellite not widely known; especially valued for its uncommonness
    • a rare word
    • rare books
  2. adjective satellite recurring only at long intervals
    • a rare appearance
    • total eclipses are rare events
  3. adjective satellite not widely distributed
    • rare herbs
    • rare patches of green in the desert
  4. adjective satellite having low density
    rarefied; rarified.
    • rare gasses
    • lightheaded from the rarefied mountain air
  5. adjective satellite marked by an uncommon quality; especially superlative or extreme of its kind
    uncommon.
    • what is so rare as a day in June"-J.R.Lowell
    • a rare skill
    • an uncommon sense of humor
    • she was kind to an uncommon degree
  6. adjective satellite (of meat) cooked a short time; still red inside
    • rare roast beef

WordNet

Rare adjective
Etymology
Cf. Rather, Rath.
Definitions
  1. Early. Obs.
    Rude mechanicals that rare and late Work in the market place. Chapman.
Rare adjective
Etymology
Cf. AS. hrer, or E. rare early.
Wordforms
comparative Rarer; superlative Rarest
Definitions
  1. Nearly raw; partially cooked; not thoroughly cooked; underdone; as, rare beef or mutton.
    New-laid eggs, which Baucis' busy care Turned by a gentle fire, and roasted rare. Dryden.
    ✍ This word is in common use in the United States, but in England its synonym underdone is preferred.
Rare adjective
Etymology
F., fr. L. rarus thin, rare.
Wordforms
comparative Rarer ; superlative Rarest
Definitions
  1. Not frequent; seldom met with or occurring; unusual; as, a rare event.
  2. Of an uncommon nature; unusually excellent; valuable to a degree seldom found.
    Rare work, all filled with terror and delight. Cowley.
    Above the rest I judge one beauty rare. Dryden.
  3. Thinly scattered; dispersed.
    Those rare and solitary, three in flocks. Milton.
  4. Characterized by wide separation of parts; of loose texture; not thick or dense; thin; as, a rare atmosphere at high elevations.
    Water is nineteen times lighter, and by consequence nineteen times rarer, than gold. Sir I. Newton.
    Syn. -- Scarce; infrequent; unusual; uncommon; singular; extraordinary; incomparable. -- Rare, Scarce. We call a thing rare when but few examples, specimens, or instances of it are ever to be met with; as, a rare plant. We speak of a thing as scarce, which, though usually abundant, is for the time being to be had only in diminished quantities; as, a bad harvest makes corn scarce.
    A perfect union of wit and judgment is one of the rarest things in the world. Burke.
    When any particular piece of money grew very scarce, it was often recoined by a succeeding emperor. Addison.

Webster 1913