Rarer

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈɹɛɹəɹ/

Definitions

1. Exhibiting a less frequent presence or availability in comparison to the norm
2. Appearing or happening with lower frequency than usual
3. Found or seen less commonly than typical

Etymology: "Rarer" is simply the comparative of "rare," so its story is the story of "rare." That word came into English from Old French "rare" or "rere," meaning "uncommon," which in turn came from Latin "rārus," meaning "loose, spaced apart, thin, infrequent." The Latin sense of thinness is the root idea: something spread out with gaps between its parts is also something you seldom encounter. English had its own words for scarcity long before this one arrived. Old English speakers used "seld" and "seldsēne," the latter roughly "seldom seen," and "geason" survived into Middle English. The French borrowing gradually displaced most of them, leaving only "seld" as a surviving remnant in modern English.

Synonyms: scarcer, uncommon, less frequent, infrequent, sparser

Antonyms: commoner, more frequent, abundant, plentiful, usual