different between delicate vs rare

English

Etymology

From Middle English delicat, from Latin delicatus (“giving pleasure, delightful, soft, luxurious, delicate, in Medieval Latin also fine, slender”), from delicia, usually in plural deliciae (“pleasure, delight, luxury”), from delicere (“to allure”), from de (“away”) + lacere (“to allure, entice”). Compare Spanish delgado (“thin, skinny”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?d?l?k?t/

Adjective

delicate (comparative more delicate, superlative most delicate)

1. Easily damaged or requiring careful handling.
2. Characterized by a fine structure or thin lines.

3. Intended for use with fragile items.

4. Refined; gentle; scrupulous not to trespass or offend; considerate; said of manners, conduct, or feelings.

5. Of weak health; easily sick; unable to endure hardship.
6. (informal) Unwell, especially because of having drunk too much alcohol.

   Please don't speak so loudly: I'm feeling a bit delicate this morning.

7. (obsolete) Addicted to pleasure; luxurious; voluptuous; alluring.
   • circa 1660, John Evelyn (author), William Bray (editor), The Diary of John Evelyn, volume I of II (1901), entry for the 19th of August in 1641, page 29:

     Haerlem is a very delicate town and hath one of the fairest churches of the Gothic design I had ever seen.

8. Pleasing to the senses; refined; adapted to please an elegant or cultivated taste.

9. Slight and shapely; lovely; graceful.
   • circa 1603, William Shakespeare, Othello, act II, scene iii, lines 18 and 20–21:

     Cassio:   She’s a most exquisite lady.…Indeed, she’s a most fresh and delicate creature.

10. Light, or softly tinted; said of a colour.

11. Of exacting tastes and habits; dainty; fastidious.
12. Highly discriminating or perceptive; refinedly critical; sensitive; exquisite.

13. Affected by slight causes; showing slight changes.

Synonyms

• (easily damaged): fragile

Related terms

• delicacy
• delicately
• delicatessen
• delicious
• delight

Translations

Noun

delicate (plural delicates)

1. A delicate item of clothing, especially underwear or lingerie.

2. (obsolete) A choice dainty; a delicacy.
3. (obsolete) A delicate, luxurious, or effeminate person.

Further reading

• delicate in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• delicate in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /de.li?ka.te/

Adjective

delicate

1. feminine plural of delicato

Anagrams

• dateceli

Latin

Adjective

d?lic?te

1. vocative masculine singular of d?lic?tus

References

• delicate in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• delicate in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• delicate in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Romanian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /deli?kate/

Adjective

delicate

1. feminine plural nominative of delicat
2. feminine plural accusative of delicat
3. neuter plural nominative of delicat
4. neuter plural accusative of delicat

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /???(?)/
• (Irish) IPA^(key): [???]
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /????/, /???/

• Rhymes: -??(r)

Etymology 1

From Middle English rare, from Old French rare, rere (“rare, uncommon”), from Latin r?rus (“loose, spaced apart, thin, infrequent”), from Proto-Indo-European *er(e)-, *r?- (“friable, thin”). Replaced native Middle English gesen (“rare, scarce”) (from Old English g?sne), Middle English seld (“rare, uncommon”) (from Old English selden), and Middle English seldscene (“rare, rarely seen, infrequent”) (from Old English selds?ne; see seldsome).

Adjective

rare (comparative rarer, superlative rarest)

1. Very uncommon; scarce.

   Synonyms: scarce, selcouth, seld, seldsome, selly, geason, uncommon; see also Thesaurus:rare

   Antonyms: common, frequent; see also Thesaurus:common
2. (of a gas) Thin; of low density.
3. (Britain, slang) Good; enjoyable.
   • 1981, Chris Difford (lyrics), Glenn Tilbrook (vocal), "Vanity Fair" (song):

     Sees her reflection in a butcher shop.

     She finds it all quite rare

     That her meat's all vanity fair.

Derived terms

• rare bird
• rare earth mineral

Related terms

• rarity

Translations

Noun

rare (plural rares)

1. (gaming) A scarce or uncommon item.
   • 1995, George Baxter, Larry W. Smith, Mastering Magic Cards (page 116)

     Most of the time, you do this by trading low-valued rares for more valuable ones or trading uncommons for rares. Other times it's trading cards that are in print for ones that are out of print, or low-value rares for good uncommons.

Etymology 2

From a dialectal variant of rear, from Middle English rere, from Old English hr?r, hr?re (“not thoroughly cooked, underdone, lightly boiled”), from hr?ran (“to move, shake, agitate”), from Proto-Germanic *hr?zijan? (“to stir”), from Proto-Indo-European *?roHs- (“to mix, stir, cook”). Related to Old English hr?r (“stirring, busy, active, strong, brave”). More at rear.

Alternative forms

• reer, rere (British)

Adjective

rare (comparative rarer or more rare, superlative rarest or most rare)

1. (cooking) Particularly of meat, especially beefsteak: cooked very lightly, so the meat is still red.

   Antonym: well done

Derived terms

• medium rare

Translations

Etymology 3

Variant of rear.

Verb

rare (third-person singular simple present rares, present participle raring, simple past and past participle rared)

1. (US, intransitive) To rear, rise up, start backwards.
   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 328:

     Frank pretended to rare back as if bedazzled, shielding his eyes with a forearm.

2. (US, transitive) To rear, bring up, raise.

Usage notes

• Principal current, non-literary use is of the present participle raring with a verb in "raring to". The principal verb in that construction is go. Thus, raring to go ("eager (to start something)") is the expression in which rare is most often encountered as a verb.

Etymology 4

Compare rather, rath.

Adjective

rare (comparative more rare, superlative most rare)

1. (obsolete) early

References

• Rare in The Concise New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English

Anagrams

• arré, rear

Danish

Adjective

rare

1. plural and definite singular attributive of rar

Dutch

Alternative forms

• raren (Brabantian)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ra?.r?/

Adjective

rare

1. Inflected form of raar

Noun

rare m (plural raren, diminutive rareke n)

1. weird person

   Synonym: rare vogel

References

• [1]

French

Etymology

Borrowed (in this form) from Latin r?rus. Compare the inherited Old French rer, rere.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /???/

Adjective

rare (plural rares)

1. rare

Derived terms

• métal rare
• oiseau rare
• perle rare
• rareté
• rarissime
• se faire rare
• terre rare

Further reading

• “rare” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• erra

German

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a???

Adjective

rare

1. inflection of rar:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Ido

Adverb

rare

1. rarely

   Antonyms: freque, ofte

Italian

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -are

Adjective

rare

1. feminine plural of raro

Anagrams

• erra

Latin

Etymology 1

Adverb

r?r? (comparative r?rius, superlative r?rissim?)

1. thinly, sparsely, here and there
2. rarely, seldom

Etymology 2

Adjective

r?re

1. vocative masculine singular of r?rus

References

• rare in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• rare in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Middle English

Alternative forms

• rere

Etymology

From Old French rer and Latin r?rus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?ra?r(?)/, /?r??r(?)/

Adjective

rare

1. airy, vacuous
2. porous, breathable
3. sparsely spread
4. rare, uncommon, scarce
5. small, little

Related terms

• rarefien

Descendants

• English: rare

References

• “r?r(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-03-29.

Norman

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin r?rus.

Adjective

rare m or f

1. (Jersey) rare

Derived terms

• rarement (“rarely”)

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

rare

1. inflection of rar:
   1. definite singular
   2. plural

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

rare

1. inflection of rar:
   1. definite singular
   2. plural

Swedish

Adjective

rare

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of rar.

Anagrams

• rear