RARE • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Rare

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/rɛr/ Listen

adjective

Rare adj. Early. (Obs.) "Rude mechanicals that rare and late Work in the market place."

Rare adj. (compar. rarer; superl. rarest) 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." Note: This word is in common use in the United States, but in England its synonym underdone is preferred.

Rare adj. (compar. rarer; superl. rarest)

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." "Above the rest I judge one beauty rare."

3.

Thinly scattered; dispersed. "Those rare and solitary, these in flocks."

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."

Synonyms: 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." "When any particular piece of money grew very scarce, it was often recoined by a succeeding emperor."

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Etymology of 'Rare'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Rare" Quotes from Famous Books

... require some explanation," continued the man in black, "and I will make it presently. I am going to be exceedingly frank and open in all that I say to you, and as frankness and openness are so extremely rare in this world, it may be that I shall obtain favor in your eyes from the fact of my possessing those unusual qualities. Originally I was a teacher, and for a year or two I had a very good country school; but my employment at last became so repugnant to me that ...

— The Associate Hermits • Frank R. Stockton

... her, but they say she's a rare good-looker and has more brains in her little finger than most men keep under their hats. I'm told she has designs on the ...

— The Lion of Petra • Talbot Mundy

... but a rare article is a dear article, and that is the reason why I have written a small poem, excessively free in its style, very broad, and extremely ...

— The Vicomte de Bragelonne - Or Ten Years Later being the completion of "The Three - Musketeers" And "Twenty Years After" • Alexandre Dumas

... done exteriorly. Outside influences, outside circumstances, wind the MAN and regulate him. Left to himself, he wouldn't get regulated at all, and the sort of time he would keep would not be valuable. Some rare men are wonderful watches, with gold case, compensation balance, and all those things, and some men are only simple and sweet and humble Waterburys. I am a Waterbury. A Waterbury ...

— Innocents abroad • Mark Twain

... You've got us analyzed," Seaton stated, rather than asked, as with knife and fork he attacked the thick, rare, and beautifully broiled steak which, with its mushrooms and other delicate trimmings, lay upon his rigid although unsupported tray—noticing as he did so that the Norlaminians ate with tools entirely different from those they had ...

— Skylark Three • Edward Elmer Smith

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