Definitions for: Rare


[adj] not widely distributed; "rare herbs"; "rare patches of gree in the desert"
[adj] not widely known; especially valued for its uncommonness; "a rare word"; "rare books"
[adj] (of meat) cooked a short time; still red inside; "rare roast beef"
[adj] recurring only at long intervals; "a rare appearance"; "total eclipses are rare events"
[adj] marked by an uncommon quality; especially superlative or extreme of its kind; "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"
[adj] having low density; "rare gasses"; "lightheaded from the rarefied mountain air"



Webster (1913) Definition: Rare (r[^a]r), a. [Cf. Rather, Rath.]
Early. [Obs.]

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


Rare, a. [Compar. Rarer; superl. Rarest.] [Cf. AS.
hr[=e]r, or E. rare early.]
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.

Note: This word is in common use in the United States, but in
England its synonym underdone is preferred.


Rare, a. [Compar. Rarer; superl. Rarest.] [F., fr. L.
rarus thin, rare.]
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.

Usage: 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.

Synonyms: extraordinary, infrequent, rarefied, rarified, raw, scarce, thin, uncommon

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