rarity

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noun rar·i·ty \ ˈrer-ə-tē \

Definition of rarity

plural rarities

1 :the quality, state, or fact of being rare

2 :one that is rare

See rarity defined for English-language learners

See rarity defined for kids

Examples of rarity in a Sentence

In most sports, athletes over the age of 50 are rarities.
Snow is a rarity in this part of the world.
He is selling most of his collection, keeping only the real rarities.
The rarity of the disease makes it difficult to diagnose.

Recent Examples of rarity from the Web

There's something to be said for the good, affordable car, and the Elantra Sport starts at barely over $20,000, a rarity in 2017.

— andrew moseman, Popular Mechanics, "The Manual Car Is About More Than Shifting Gears," 19 Aug. 2017
It was made clear at the beginning of the Dylan tour there would be no complimentary tickets or backstage passes, which was a rarity in the business, Oldham says.

— matt wake, AL.com, "The secrets behind Bob Dylan's Muscle Shoals albums," 16 Aug. 2017
Frazier is black, a rarity for CEOs of large U.S. corporations.

— cynthia koons, Bloomberg.com, "Merck CEO Quits Trump Council as ‘Matter of Personal Conscience’," 14 Aug. 2017
Coming out of the stoppage, the Bears switched to their dime package—six defensive backs—a rarity under defensive coordinator Vic Fangio.

— rich campbell, chicagotribune.com, "Kyle Long dismissed from Bears practice for fighting," 14 Aug. 2017
Bouncing around the league early in a career as Bullock did with a stint in Houston, then brief runs with five teams the last two seasons, are more commonplace than rarity.

— paul dehner jr., Cincinnati.com, "Kicking competition bringing out best for Bengals," 14 Aug. 2017
One worker, Chip Wells, later said in an interview that many colleagues were worried by the presentation, even though strikes are a rarity.

— noam scheiber, New York Times, "Racially Charged Nissan Vote Is a Test for U.A.W. in the South," 2 Aug. 2017
There were even black women on TV and on the covers of magazines, an extreme rarity to see at home.

— fatou n'diaye, Glamour, "What 'French-Girl Beauty' Means If You're a Woman of Color," 14 July 2017
After giving brief remarks Thursday, Trump and Macron prepared to take four questions from reporters — a rarity for the two leaders who have largely avoided the media.

— jenna johnson, Washington Post, "Trump and Macron, once cast as adversaries, show they have much in common," 13 July 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'rarity.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

First Known Use of rarity

1542

rarity Synonyms

Synonyms

curio, exotic, objet d'art (also objet), oddity, oddment, curiosity

Related Words

found object, objet trouvé; curiosa, ephemera, virtu (or vertu); marvel, prodigy, rara avis, rare bird, wonder; abnormality, anomaly, freak, monster, monstrosity; malformation, mutant, mutation

Near Antonyms

norm, ordinary, usual

RARITY Defined for English Language Learners

rarity

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noun

Definition of rarity for English Language Learners

: a person or thing that is not common or usual : a person or thing that is not seen or does not happen often
: something that is valuable because there are few of its kind
: the quality of being rare