rarely
Americanadverb
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on rare occasions; infrequently; seldom.
I'm rarely late for appointments.
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exceptionally; in an unusual degree.
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unusually or remarkably well; excellent.
adverb
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hardly ever; seldom
I'm rarely in town these days
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to an unusual degree; exceptionally
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dialect uncommonly well; excellently
he did rarely at market yesterday
Usage
Since rarely means hardly ever , one should not say something rarely ever happens
Etymology
Origin of rarely
Explanation
If you almost never do something, you can say you do it rarely. If you walk or bike to work most days, you could say that you rarely take the bus. Something that happens rarely happens only once in a while, or seldom. You might sigh that your town's baseball team rarely wins a game, or boast that you rarely forget a person's name once you've been introduced. The word comes from the adjective rare, "not occurring often," or "unusual," from the Old French rere, "sparse," and its root, the Latin word rarus, "thinly sown, with intervals between, or full of empty spaces."
Vocabulary lists containing rarely
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Academic Vocabulary: Core Tier 2 Words, List 9
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Rosetta Stone's Essential Academic Vocabulary: Lesson 17
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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.
Rallies rarely point to election results, but Végh says the numbers that Magyar has been able to attract are unprecedented: "What I find very telling is the extent of engagement and mobilisation."
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026
Materials used in adhesive and wetness indicators are also rarely disclosed on packaging.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2026
For example, EVs well-suited to serving as daily commuter cars that rarely leave a city can cost much less than fast-charging range monsters ready to challenge gas vehicles on road trips.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 10, 2026
McIlroy has rarely done anything conventionally in a career packed with as many bitter lows as there have been exhilarating highs.
From BBC • Apr. 10, 2026
For Picasso, who rarely got up before noon, it was an obscene hour.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
Definitions 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.
