Synonyms for rare
rɛərrare

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:1.0 / 1 vote

1. rare

   Unique is alone of its kind; rare is infrequent of its kind; great poems are rare; "Paradise Lost" is unique. To say of a thing that it is rare is simply to affirm that it is now seldom found, whether previously common or not; as, a rare old book; a rare word; to call a thing scarce implies that it was at some time more plenty, as when we say food or money is scarce. A particular fruit or coin may be rare; scarce applies to demand and use, and almost always to concrete things; to speak of virtue, genius, or heroism as scarce would be somewhat ludicrous. Rare has the added sense of precious, which is sometimes, but not necessarily, blended with that above given; as, a rare gem. Extraordinary, signifying greatly beyond the ordinary, is a neutral word, capable of a high and good sense or of an invidious, opprobrious, or contemptuous signification; as, extraordinary genius; extraordinary wickedness; an extraordinary assumption of power; extraordinary antics; an extraordinary statement is incredible without overwhelming proof.

   See synonyms for GENERAL; NORMAL; USUAL.

   Synonyms:
   curious, extraordinary, incomparable, infrequent, odd, peculiar, precious, remarkable, scarce, singular, strange, uncommon, unique, unparalleled, unprecedented, unusual

Princeton's WordNetRate these synonyms:2.0 / 1 vote

1. rareadjective

   not widely known; especially valued for its uncommonness

   "a rare word"; "rare books"

   Synonyms:
   rarefied, rarified, uncommon

   Antonyms:
   cooked, thick, ordinary, frequent, common, abundant

2. rareadjective

   recurring only at long intervals

   "a rare appearance"; "total eclipses are rare events"

   Synonyms:
   rarefied, rarified, uncommon

   Antonyms:
   cooked, common, ordinary, frequent, abundant, thick

3. rareadjective

   not widely distributed

   "rare herbs"; "rare patches of green in the desert"

   Synonyms:
   rarefied, rarified, uncommon

   Antonyms:
   abundant, frequent, common, thick, ordinary, cooked

4. rare, rarefied, rarifiedadjective

   having low density

   "rare gasses"; "lightheaded from the rarefied mountain air"

   Synonyms:
   uncommon, rarified, noble-minded, elevated, lofty, idealistic, exalted, sublime, high-minded, high-flown, grand, rarefied

   Antonyms:
   abundant, ordinary, thick, cooked, frequent, common

5. rare, uncommonadjective

   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"

   Synonyms:
   rarefied, rarified, uncommon

   Antonyms:
   ordinary, thick, abundant, cooked, frequent, common

6. rareadjective

   (of meat) cooked a short time; still red inside

   "rare roast beef"

   Synonyms:
   rarefied, rarified, uncommon

   Antonyms:
   abundant, common, ordinary, frequent, thick, cooked

Dictionary of English SynonymesRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. rareadjective

   Synonyms:
   thin, subtile, not dense

2. rareadjective

   Synonyms:
   SCARCE, uncommon, infrequent, unfrequent, singular, extraordinary, strange, out of the way, not common

3. rareadjective

   Synonyms:
   choice, fine, excellent, exquisite, incomparable, inimitable

4. rareadjective

   Synonyms:
   underdone, nearly raw, not well done or well cooked

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. rareadjective

   Synonyms:
   uncommon, unusual, strange, infrequent, singular, curious, exquisite, fine, incomparable, recherché, sparse, dispersed, subtile, fine, thin, rarefied, tenuous, underdone

PPDB, the paraphrase databaseRate these paraphrases:0.0 / 0 votes

1. List of paraphrases for "rare":

   uncommon, scarce, nader, infrequent, unusual, few, nadir, rarely, sparse, exceptional, rarity, precious, seldom

Suggested Resources

1. RARE

   What does RARE stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the RARE acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

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How to use rare in a sentence?

1. Charles de LEUSSE:

   Last breath is rare, therefore expensive. However, we prefer to stay poor ... (Dernier soupir est rare, donc cher. - Pourtant, on préfère rester pauvre...)

2. Alicia Rivera:

   I would actually dream about the party we would have, I would think about how amazing that would feel to see my mother go to the party instead of chemo. Alicia Rivera, Alicia Rivera, has an amazing story of survival.She was diagnosed at 18 with PC, and is now not only a survivor, but is also a nursing student and a curePC campaign participant too. It is very rare to be so young and get that diagnosis and also rare to be a PC survivor.Only 7 percent of those diagnosed with PC survive five years, and an estimated 49,000 Americans will be diagnosed this year, with more than 40,000 of them dying before the year ends, according to the American Cancer Society. I asked Rivera how she found out she had PC and how she coped with the diagnosis at 18. I was young, and so many people said to me they couldn't believe it.I have Crohn's disease, and I had my wisdom teeth extracted in October of 2011. I went into septic shock, and that's when doctors did a scan, they found the tumor, and doctors at first thought it couldn't be PC, but did a biopsy to be sure, and it came it back positive, stage 1 pancreatic cancer. Alicia Rivera said she was shocked and recalled thinking that she was going to die. Doctors performed surgery to remove half of her pancreas, taking with it her gallbladder, a bile duct, lympho nodes and half of her stomach. They then reconnected her intestines to the remaining portion of her stomach. She said she hopes her story will help others stay connected to their bodies and to be aware of potential warning signs. PC is considered the silent killer, because by the time you feel symptoms, the tumor is usually metastasized.

3. Mark Twain:

   It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.

4. Tim Kring:

   This show was always designed to be rare and special, i think 'Heroes' would've always been better if it was more rare and more special, and less about being on all the time.

5. Erica Jong:

   Everyone has a talent. What is rare is the courage to nurture it in solitude and to follow the talent to the dark places where it leads.