rarity
Americannoun
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rarities
plural
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something rare, unusual, or uncommon.
Snowstorms are a rarity in the South.
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something esteemed or interesting in being rare, uncommon, or curious.
That folio is a rarity that will bring a good price.
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the state or quality of being rare.
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rare occurrence; infrequency.
Volcanic eruptions on the island occur with great rarity.
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unusual excellence.
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thinness, as of air or a gas.
noun
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a rare person or thing, esp something interesting or valued because it is uncommon
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the state or quality of being rare
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of rarity
1550–60; < Latin rāritās thinness, equivalent to rār ( us ) rare 1 + -itās -ity
Vocabulary lists containing rarity
"My Last Duchess" by Robert Browning
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"The Tempest," Vocabulary from Acts 1 and 2
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Sports is an investing rarity in being both safe and fast-growing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 22, 2026
The property was designed by architecture firm Ike Kligerman Barkley, with the listing emphasizing the rarity of its expansive oceanfront setting.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 13, 2026
Whereas 10 to 30-plus years ago, it was so much more of a rarity.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
One reason the mystery endured for so long was simply the rarity of inherited AnWj negative blood.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 19, 2026
The present comparative rarity of tuberculosis results in large measure from the fact that the average person now seldom comes into contact with the tubercle bacillus.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
The diehards chase the rarities, Springsteen changes songs in and out as the spirit moves him, and there was one tour where he took requests via sign from the audience.
From Salon ● May 28, 2026
In the 1950s and ’60s, there would be earworm TV-show themes—from “Have Gun—Will Travel,” “The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp,” “Rawhide”—but over the decades that followed, corral-based hits became rarities.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 2, 2026
The trial, which began Monday, has marked a pair of legal rarities in L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 14, 2025
They also suggest that these communities of animals, rather than extreme rarities, are actually widespread.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2025
We might joke about looking “kempt” or being "couth," but in fact the negatives have no opposite forms—they’re either obsolete rarities or whimsical inventions.
From "Woe Is I" by Patricia T. O'Conner
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
