Rare
Pronunciation
- UK IPA: /ɹɛə/, /ɹɛË
- US IPA: /ɹɛəɹ/
- Rhymes: -ɛə(r)
Origin 1
From a dialectal variant of rear, from Middle English rere, from Old English hrÄ“r, hrÄ“re ("not thoroughly cooked, underdone, lightly boiled"), from hrÄ“ran ("to move, shake, agitate"), from Proto-Germanic *hrÅzijanÄ… ("to stir"), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱera-, *ḱrÄ- ("to mix, stir, cook"). Related to Old English hrÅr ("stirring, busy, active, strong, brave"). More at rear.
Full definition of rare
Adjective
rare
- (cooking, particularly meats) Cooked very lightly, so the meat is still red (in the case of steak or beef in the general sense).
- DrydenNew-laid eggs, which Baucis' busy care
Turned by a gentle fire, and roasted rare.
Synonyms
- (cooked very lightly) sanguinary
Antonyms
- (cooked very lightly) well done
Derived terms
Origin 2
From Middle English rare, from Old French rare, rere ("rare, uncommon"), from Latin rÄrus ("loose, spaced apart, thin, infrequent"), from Proto-Indo-European *er(e)-, *rÄ“- ("friable, thin"). Replaced native Middle English gesen (), Middle English seld (), and Middle English seldsene ().
Adjective
rare
- Very uncommon; scarce.Black pearls are very rare and therefore very valuable.
- 2013, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, Wild Plants to the Rescue, Plant breeding is always a numbers game....The wild species we use are rich in genetic variation, and individual plants are highly heterozygous and do not breed true. In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better.
- (of a gas) Thin; of low density.
Antonyms
- (very uncommon) common
Derived terms
Related terms
Origin 3
Variant of rear.
Verb
Origin 4
Compare rather, rath.