different between singular vs rare

English

Alternative forms

• sing., sg., sg (abbreviation)

Etymology

From Middle English singuler, borrowed from Old French, from Latin singul?ris (“alone of its kind”), from Latin singulus (“single”).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?s???j?l?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?s???j?l?/

Adjective

singular (comparative more singular, superlative most singular)

1. Being only one of a larger population.

   Synonym: individual

   Antonym: general

2. Being the only one of the kind; unique.

   • The busts […] of the emperors and empresses are all very scarce, and some of them almost singular in their kind.

   • And God forbid that all a company / Should rue a singular manne's folly.

   • 1620, Francis Bacon, Novum Organum

     singular instances

   Synonym: unique

3. Distinguished by superiority: peerless, unmatched, eminent, exceptional, extraordinary.

   Synonyms: exceptional, extraordinary, remarkable

4. Out of the ordinary; curious.
   • 1641, John Denham, The Sophy

     So singular a sadness / Must have a cause as strange as the effect.

   Synonyms: curious, eccentric, funny, odd, peculiar, rum, rummy, strange, unusual

5. (grammar) Referring to only one thing or person.

   Antonym: plural

6. (linear algebra, of matrix) Having no inverse.

   Synonym: non-invertible

   Antonyms: invertible, non-singular

7. (linear algebra, of transformation) Having the property that the matrix of coefficients of the new variables has a determinant equal to zero.
8. (set theory, of a cardinal number) Not equal to its own cofinality.
9. (law) Each; individual.

10. (obsolete) Engaged in by only one on a side; single.

    • Thus made he an end, and the two princes allowed well of his last motion, and so order was taken, that they should fight togither in a singular combat

Synonyms

• (being only one): see also Thesaurus:specific
• (being the only one of a kind): see also Thesaurus:unique
• (being out of the ordinary): see also Thesaurus:strange

Antonyms

• (being only one): see also Thesaurus:generic

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

singular (plural singulars)

1. (grammar) A form of a word that refers to only one person or thing.

   Antonym: plural

2. (logic) That which is not general; a specific determinate instance.

Derived terms

• singulare tantum

Related terms

• plural

Translations

See also

• (grammatical numbers) grammatical number; singular, dual, trial, quadral, paucal, plural ^{(Category: en:Grammar)}

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• rail guns, railguns

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin singul?ris. Doublet of senglar.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /si?.?u?la/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /si?.?u?la?/

Adjective

singular (masculine and feminine plural singulars)

1. singular

   Antonym: plural

Derived terms

• singularment

Related terms

Galician

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin singul?ris.

Adjective

singular m or f (plural singulares)

1. (grammar) singular

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin singul?ris. Doublet of senheiro.

Adjective

singular m or f (plural singulares, comparable)

1. singular (being the only one of a kind)

   Synonym: único

2. (grammar) singular (referring to only one thing)

   Antonym: plural

Derived terms

• singularmente

Related terms

• singularidade

Noun

singular m (plural singulares)

1. (grammar) singular (form of a word that refers to only one thing)

   Antonym: plural

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin singul?ris.

Noun

s?ngul?r m (Cyrillic spelling ??????????)

1. singular

   Synonym: jednìna

Declension

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin singul?ris. Doublet of señero.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sin?u?la?/, [s??.?u?la?]

Adjective

singular (plural singulares)

1. singular

   Antonym: plural

2. odd, peculiar

Derived terms

• singularmente

Related terms

• singularidad

Noun

singular m (plural singulares)

1. singular

   Antonym: plural

Further reading

• “singular” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

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