seldom

[sel-duhm]

adverb

1. on only a few occasions; rarely; infrequently; not often.

   We seldom see our old neighbors anymore.

adjective

1. rare; infrequent.

seldom

/ ˈsɛldəm /

adverb

1. not often; rarely

Other Word Forms

• seldomness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of seldom¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English seldum, variant of seldan; cognate with German selten, Gothic silda-

Word History and Origins

Origin of seldom¹

Old English seldon; related to Old Norse sjāldan, Old High German seltan

Example Sentences

This moves the contact into the seldom used “X file,” where I can, in my moments of reverie, review and remind myself of those once treasured relationships.

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Mr. Fox, then appearing in NBC’s hit sitcom “Family Ties,” was merely a television performer, and at the time the barrier between movies and TV was seldom breached.

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Rockne told a friend that the often-injured player who seldom started will someday “be recognized as the greatest football coach of all time.”

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He traveled to the U.S. and to other Western democracies that past International Department chiefs seldom visited.

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It’s not surprising that robot demos seldom show humans interacting closely with walking robots.

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Related Words

• a few times www.thesaurus.com
• hardly 
• occasionally 
• rarely 
• scarcely 
• sometimes 
• sporadically