| / English Dictionary |
RARE
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Not widely distributed
Example:
rare patches of green in the desert
Classified under:
Similar:
scarce (deficient in quantity or number compared with the demand)
Derivation:
rareness; rarity (noteworthy scarcity)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Not widely known; especially valued for its uncommonness
Example:
rare books
Classified under:
Similar:
uncommon (not common or ordinarily encountered; unusually great in amount or remarkable in character or kind)
Sense 3
Meaning:
(of meat) cooked a short time; still red inside
Example:
rare roast beef
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
raw (not treated with heat to prepare it for eating)
Sense 4
Meaning:
Recurring only at long intervals
Example:
total eclipses are rare events
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
infrequent (not frequent; not occurring regularly or at short intervals)
Derivation:
rareness (noteworthy scarcity)
Sense 5
Meaning:
Marked by an uncommon quality; especially superlative or extreme of its kind
Example:
she was kind to an uncommon degree
Synonyms:
rare; uncommon
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
extraordinary (beyond what is ordinary or usual; highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable)
Derivation:
rarity (something unusual -- perhaps worthy of collecting)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Having low density
Example:
lightheaded from the rarefied mountain air
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
thin (relatively thin in consistency or low in density; not viscous)
Derivation:
rarity (a rarified quality)
Context examples:
I have had a sirloin so large, that I have been forced to make three bites of it; but this is rare.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Local excision is curative and recurrences are very rare.
(Adenomatoid Odontogenic Tumor, NCI Thesaurus)
A rare type of cancer that usually begins in the salivary glands.
(Adenoid cystic carcinoma, NCI Dictionary)
A rare disorder in which the adrenal glands do not make enough of certain hormones.
(Addison Disease, NCI Dictionary)
A rare morphologic variant of chondrosarcoma occurring in adults.
(Adult Mesenchymal Chondrosarcoma, NCI Thesaurus)
A rare malignant soft tissue neoplasm arising from the vascular endothelium of the adrenal gland.
(Adrenal Gland Angiosarcoma, NCI Thesaurus)
A rare, usually large (greater than 5cm), malignant epithelial tumor arising from the adrenal cortical cells.
(Adrenal Cortex Carcinoma, NCI Thesaurus)
A rare type of cancer that forms on or just beneath the skin, usually in parts of the body that have been exposed to the sun.
(Merkel cell cancer, NCI Dictionary)
This is the first time that the rare and unstable mineral has been found in such a large quantity and the first time it has been found to be associated with plants.
(Rare mineral discovered in plants for first time, University of Cambridge)
“I was carried off, by force of arms,” said Steerforth, “the very next morning after I got home. Why, Daisy, what a rare old bachelor you are here!”
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
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