rare

comparative rarer · superlative rarest

1. Very uncommon; scarce.

   Black pearls are very rare and therefore very valuable.

   2 more examples

   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.

   2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3

   While many material components in Andromeda are familiar, we have also discovered rarer and more valuable materials; attributable to exposure to the Scourge, or mysterious alien technology.

   2017, BioWare, Mass Effect: Andromeda (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Technology: Augmentations Codex entry

   Synonyms: scarce, selcouth, seld, selly, geason, uncommon · Antonyms: common, frequent, average, basic, bog-standard, common, common as bums, common as dirt

2. medicineSmall in number (but not unusual); infrequent; sparse.

   2 more examples

   The anterior and posterior skin of the upper chest and shoulders demonstrated irregularly jagged borders with areas of soot and charring focally. The soft and bony tissues underlying the borders were markedly damaged by presumed explosive injuries. There were rare abrasions and contusions of the chest and upper extremities. The lower extremities demonstrated rare abrasions and contusions as well as severe lacerations of the anteromedial knees with underlying fractures of the distal aspects of the femora (Image 4).

   2016 March, Amanda M McLemore et al., “Suicide by Bomb, with Decapitation”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)

   Moreover, the SF [Superficial fascia] splits to surround vessels and nerves, ensuring their patency, and forms the so-called retinacula cutis, which has the function of connecting the SF to the skin (retinacula cutis superficialis, or skin ligaments) and to the deep fascia (retinacula cutis profundis), to provide a dynamic and flexible anchor of the skin to underlying tissues [16,20]. The deep septa are rare, thin, and oblique and have an apparent lesser organization, allowing great autonomy between superficial and deep fascia.

   2025 January-February, Caterina Fede et al., “The Human Superficial Fascia: A Narrative Review”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)

3. Thin; of low density.
4. UKslangGood; enjoyable.

   Sees her reflection in a butcher shop. She finds it all quite rare That her meat's all vanity fair.

   1981, Chris Difford (lyrics), Glenn Tilbrook (vocal), "Vanity Fair" (song)

5. USslangCool; excellent.

   I whistled for a cab and when it came near / The license plate said ‘fresh’ and it had dice in the mirror. / If anything I could say that this cab was rare.

   1990, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (TV show theme song)

plural rares

1. gamesA scarce or uncommon item.

   Most of the time, you do this by trading low-valued rares for more valuable ones or trading uncommons for rares. Other times it's trading cards that are in print for ones that are out of print, or low-value rares for good uncommons.

   1995, George Baxter, Larry W. Smith, Mastering Magic Cards, page 116

comparative rarer · comparative more rare · superlative rarest · superlative most rare · alternative UK reer · alternative UK rere

1. cookingParticularly of meat, especially beefsteak: cooked very lightly, so the meat is still red.

   Then Curds and Cream, the Flow'r of Country Fare, / And new-laid Eggs, which Baucis’ buſie Care / Turn’d by a gentle Fire, and roaſted rare.

   1717, John Dryden, “Book VIII. [The Story of Baucis and Philemon.]”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 285

   Antonyms: well done

present singular third person rares · participle present raring · participle past rared · past rared

1. USintransitiveTo rear, rise up, start backwards.

   Frank pretended to rare back as if bedazzled, shielding his eyes with a forearm.

   2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage, published 2007, page 328

2. UStransitiveTo rear, bring up, raise.

   Here I have to say that I was walking along dark-hearted, my nose out of joint about Audie's notice of her, for just as quickly as my feelings kindled, my old envy rared.

   2013, Janet Peery, What the Thunder Said: A Novella and Stories, →ISBN

comparative more rare · superlative most rare

1. obsoleteEarly.

   The men, that sway / In work of those tools that so fit our state, / Are rude mechanicals, that rare and late / Work in the market-place;

   1614–1615, Homer, “The Sixth Book of Homer’s Odysseys”, in Geo[rge] Chapman, transl., Homer’s Odysses. […], London: […] Rich[ard] Field [and William Jaggard], for Nathaniell Butter, published 1615, →OCLC; republished in The Odysseys of Homer, […], volume I, London: John Russell Smith, […], 1857, →OCLC, page 147, lines 420–423