AdverbEmployers also say that foreign-born workers tend to work harder, be more reliable, and complain less than the natives they can hire at the same wage. This is not surprising. Unskilled immigrants have seldom finished secondary school, but they have overcome all kinds of obstacles both to get here and to stay here.—Christopher Jencks, New York Review of Books, 27 Sept. 2007"The pervasive theme is rebellion." Laurel Thatcher Ulrich begins her new book, "Well-Behaved Women Seldom Make History," struggling to explain—understand—the appeal of an aside she made in the spring 1976 issue of an academic journal, a comment that has become a popular slogan printed on T-shirts and coffee mugs and bumper stickers, usually without her permission and often without attribution.—Kathryn Harrison, New York Times Book Review, 30 Sept. 2007Kangaroo rats belong to a North American family of rodents well known for living in arid habitats, where they forage almost exclusively for seeds. They seldom have access to drinking water, but instead get most of their moisture from digesting the seeds.—Michael A. Mares, Natural History, November 2003
We seldom go to the movies.
This type of turtle seldom grows over four inches in length.
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Adverb
In college basketball and football, West Coast teams have all too seldom seized the biggest moments for several decades.—Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 6 Apr. 2026 In natural systems, pests seldom reach outbreak levels because predators, parasitoids, and disease organisms (collectively called natural enemies) keep populations in check.—Kim Toscano, Southern Living, 5 Apr. 2026 The other cost-slashing option that is seldom practiced is the simulcast in which the radio network broadcasts the TV announcers, a path the Dallas Stars have preferred for decades.—Mac Engel
april 2, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 2 Apr. 2026 But items like my own wedding china set and the Christmas china set, which were both for special occasions that seldom ever happened, wouldn’t survive the purge.—Laura Pevehouse, The Spruce, 31 Mar. 2026 See All Example Sentences for seldom
Word History
Etymology
Adverb and Adjective
Middle English, from Old English seldan; akin to Old High German seltan seldom
First Known Use
Adverb
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above