Meanings
plural rarities
- chemistryThinness; the property of having low density
Only the increasing rarity bothered him, and he thought that perhaps it was this which had turned the heads of other travellers and excited those absurd tales of night-gaunts whereby they explained the loss of such climbers as fell from these perilous paths.
1927, H. P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown KadathSynonyms: subtlety
- A rare object.
1 more example
Plant breeding is always a numbers game.[…]In addition, we are looking for rare alleles, so the more plants we try, the better. These rarities may be new mutations, or they can be existing ones that are neutral—or are even selected against—in a wild population. A good example is mutations that disrupt seed dispersal, leaving the seeds on the heads long after they are ripe.
2013 May-June, David Van Tassel, Lee DeHaan, “Wild Plants to the Rescue”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3Synonyms: hen's tooth
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA measure of the scarcity of an object.
nounThinness; the property of having low density
nounA rare object.
More synonyms by meaning
nounsomething unusual — perhaps worthy of collecting
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Latinrāritās
- Middle Frenchrarité
- Englishrarity
From rare + -ity, borrowed from Middle French rarité, from Latin rāritās; compare French rareté. See also rare.
More words from Middle French, Latin
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian рядкост, рядкост
- рядкост (rjadkost)measure of the scarcity of an object
- рядкост (rjadkost)rare object
- уникат (unikat)rare object
Catalan raresa, raritat
- raresameasure of the scarcity of an object
- raritatmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- raresarare object
Czech vzácnost, vzácnost
- vzácnostmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- vzácnostrare object
Danish sjældenhed, sjældenhed
- sjældenhedmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- sjældenhedrare object
- raritetrare object
Dutch zeldzaamheid, zeldzaamheid
- zeldzaamheidmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- zeldzaamheidrare object
- rariteitrare object
Esperanto malofteco, rareco
- maloftecomeasure of the scarcity of an object
- rarecomeasure of the scarcity of an object
- maloftaĵorare object
- raraĵorare object
- kuriozaĵorare object
Estonian haruldus, haruldus
- haruldusmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- haruldusrare object
Finnish harvinaisuus, harvinaisuus
- harvinaisuusmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- harvinaisuusrare object
French rareté, rareté
- raretémeasure of the scarcity of an object
- raretérare object
German Seltenheit, Seltenheit
- Seltenheitmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- Seltenheitrare object
- Raritätrare object
Greek σπανιότητα
- σπανιότητα (spaniótita)measure of the scarcity of an object
Hindi विरलता, दुर्लभता
- विरलता (viraltā)measure of the scarcity of an object
- दुर्लभता (durlabhtā)measure of the scarcity of an object
- विरल (viral)rare object
- दुर्लभ (durlabh)rare object
Hungarian ritkaság, ritkaság
- ritkaságmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- ritkaságrare object
- kuriózumrare object
Irish annamhacht, annaimhe
- annamhachtmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- annaimhemeasure of the scarcity of an object
Italian scarsità, rarità
- scarsitàmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- raritàrare object
Latin rāritās, rāritās
- rāritāsmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- rāritāsrare object
Latvian retums
- retumsrare object
Lithuanian retumas, retenybė
- retumasmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- retenybėrare object
Māori onge, onge
- ongemeasure of the scarcity of an object
- ongerare object
Norwegian Bokmål sjeldenhet, sjeldenhet
- sjeldenhetmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- sjeldenhetrare object
- raritetrare object
Polish rzadkość, rarytas
- rzadkośćmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- rarytasrare object
- biały krukrare object
Portuguese raridade, raridade
- raridademeasure of the scarcity of an object
- raridaderare object
Romanian raritate, raritate
- raritatemeasure of the scarcity of an object
- raritaterare object
Russian ре́дкость, ре́дкость
- ре́дкость (rédkostʹ)measure of the scarcity of an object
- ре́дкость (rédkostʹ)rare object
- рарите́т (raritét)rare object
Spanish raridad, rareza
- raridadmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- rarezameasure of the scarcity of an object
- rarezarare object
Swedish sällsynthet, rarhet
- sällsynthetmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- rarhetmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- raritetrare object
- sällsynthetrare object
Turkish azlık, nadirlik
- azlıkmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- nadirlikmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- nedretmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- seyreklikmeasure of the scarcity of an object
- nadiderare object
Ukrainian рі́дкість, рі́дкість
- рі́дкість (rídkistʹ)measure of the scarcity of an object
- рі́дкість (rídkistʹ)rare object
- рарите́т (rarytét)rare object
Yiddish אַנטיק
- אַנטיק (antik)rare object
Cite this entry
rarity. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rarity
“rarity.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rarity. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rarity,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rarity.
Source: rarity on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.