 7 definitions found
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
rare
adjective
1: not widely known; especially valued for its uncommonness; "a
rare word"; "rare books"
2: recurring only at long intervals; "a rare appearance";
"total eclipses are rare events"
3: not widely distributed; "rare herbs"; "rare patches of gree
in the desert"
4: marked by an uncommon quality; especially superlative or
extreme of its kind; "what is so rare as a day in
June"-J.R.Lowell; "a rare skill"; "an uncommon sense of
humor"; "she was kind to an uncommon degree" [syn: {uncommon}]
5: having low density; "rare gasses"; "lightheaded from the
rarefied mountain air" [syn: {rarefied}, {rarified}]
6: (of meat) cooked a short time; still red inside; "rare roast
beef"
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Rare \Rare\ (r[^a]r), adjective [Cf. {Rather}, {Rath}.]
Early. [Obs.]
Rude mechanicals that rare and late
Work in the market place. --Chapman.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Rare \Rare\, adjective [Compar. {Rarer} (r[^a]r"[~e]r); superl.
{Rarest}.] [Cf. AS. hr[=e]r, or E. rare early. [root]18.]
Nearly raw; partially cooked; not thoroughly cooked;
underdone; as, rare beef or mutton.
New-laid eggs, which Baucis' busy care
Turned by a gentle fire, and roasted rare. --Dryden.
Note: This word is in common use in the United States, but in
England its synonym {underdone} is preferred.
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Rare \Rare\, adjective [Compar. {Rarer} (r[^a]r"[~e]r); superl.
{Rarest}.] [F., fr. L. rarus thin, rare.]
1. Not frequent; seldom met with or occurring; unusual; as, a
rare event.
2. Of an uncommon nature; unusually excellent; valuable to a
degree seldom found.
Rare work, all filled with terror and delight.
--Cowley.
Above the rest I judge one beauty rare. --Dryden.
3. Thinly scattered; dispersed.
Those rare and solitary, these in flocks. --Milton.
4. Characterized by wide separation of parts; of loose
texture; not thick or dense; thin; as, a rare atmosphere
at high elevations.
Water is nineteen times lighter, and by consequence
nineteen times rarer, than gold. --Sir I.
Newton.
Syn: Scarce; infrequent; unusual; uncommon; singular;
extraordinary; incomparable.
Usage: {Rare}, {Scarce}. We call a thing rare when but few
examples, specimens, or instances of it are ever to be
met with; as, a rare plant. We speak of a thing as
scarce, which, though usually abundant, is for the
time being to be had only in diminished quantities;
as, a bad harvest makes corn scarce.
A perfect union of wit and judgment is one of
the rarest things in the world. --Burke.
When any particular piece of money grew very
scarce, it was often recoined by a succeeding
emperor. --Addison.
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
235 Moby Thesaurus words for "rare":
a cut above, above, admirable, adulterated, ahead, airy,
almost unheard-of, another, ascendant, at a premium, attenuate,
attenuated, atypical, beguiling, better, bewildering, boyish,
breakaway, capping, celebrated, cheeseparing, chinchy, chintzy,
choice, chosen, collectable, conspicuous, crude, cut, dainty,
delicate, diaphanous, dilute, diluted, distinguished, eclipsing,
elegant, else, eminent, enigmatic, esteemed, estimable, ethereal,
exceeding, excellent, excelling, exceptional, exiguous, exquisite,
extraordinary, fabulous, fallen, fantastic, fascinating, few, fine,
fine-drawn, finer, finespun, first-class, first-rate, flimsy,
frail, gaseous, gauzy, girlish, good, gossamer, gracile, greater,
higher, in ascendancy, in short supply, in the ascendant,
incomparable, incomprehensible, inconceivable, incredible,
infrequent, insubstantial, lacy, light, limited, major, marked,
marvelous, matchless, meager, memorable, miraculous, miserly,
misty, niggardly, noble, not done, not that sort, not the same,
not the type, notable, noteworthy, occasional, of a sort,
of another sort, of choice, of mark, of sorts, offbeat, one up on,
other, other than, otherwise, out of print, out of season,
out of stock, outlandish, outstanding, over, papery,
passing strange, peculiar, peerless, phenomenal, piddling, poor,
prestigious, prodigious, prominent, puzzling, rarefied, raw,
recherche, red, remarkable, rememberable, reputable, rivaling,
saignant, salient, scant, scanty, scarce, scattered, scrimping,
scrimpy, seldom, seldom met with, seldom seen, select, sensational,
signal, singular, skimping, skimpy, slender, slenderish, slight,
slight-made, slim, slimmish, slinky, slow, small, sodden, sparse,
special, sporadic, spotty, sprinkled, stingy, strange, striking,
stupendous, subtile, subtle, sui generis, super, superior,
superlative, surpassing, svelte, sylphlike, telling, tenuous, thin,
thin-bodied, thin-set, thin-spun, thinned, thinned-out, thinnish,
threadlike, tight, topping, transcendent, transcendental,
transcending, unbaked, unboiled, uncommon, uncompact, uncompressed,
uncooked, uncustomary, undercooked, underdone, undreamed-of,
unexpected, unfamiliar, unforgettable, unfrequent, unheard-of,
unimaginable, unique, unordinary, unparalleled, unprecedented,
unsubstantial, unthinkable, unthought-of, unusual, unwonted, upper,
vague, vaporous, wasp-waisted, watered, watered-down, watery, weak,
willowy, windy, wiredrawn, wispy, wonderful, wondrous
From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:
RARE
{Reseaux Associes pour la Recherche Europeenne}
From Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (Version 1.9, June 2002) [vera]:
RARE
Reseaux Associes pour la Recherche Europeenne (org.)
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