RARITY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does rarity mean? 

• RARITY (noun)
  The noun RARITY has 3 senses:

1. noteworthy scarcity

2. a rarified quality

3. something unusual -- perhaps worthy of collecting

  Familiarity information: RARITY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RARITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Noteworthy scarcity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

infrequency; rareness; rarity

Hypernyms ("rarity" is a kind of...):

scarceness; scarcity (a small and inadequate amount)

Derivation:

rare (not widely distributed)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A rarified quality

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

low density; rarity; tenuity

Context example:

the tenuity of the upper atmosphere

Hypernyms ("rarity" is a kind of...):

denseness; density (the amount per unit size)

Derivation:

rare (having low density)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Something unusual -- perhaps worthy of collecting

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

curio; curiosity; oddity; oddment; peculiarity; rarity

Hypernyms ("rarity" is a kind of...):

object; physical object (a tangible and visible entity; an entity that can cast a shadow)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "rarity"):

bric-a-brac; knickknack; knickknackery; nicknack; whatnot (miscellaneous curios)

collectable; collectible (things considered to be worth collecting (not necessarily valuable or antique))

collector's item; piece de resistance; showpiece (the outstanding item (the prize piece or main exhibit) in a collection)

Derivation:

rare (marked by an uncommon quality; especially superlative or extreme of its kind)

 Context examples 

I then showed him the gold given me by the emperor of Blefuscu, together with his majesty’s picture at full length, and some other rarities of that country.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

This makes it the most temperate world in the system — and as such, a rarity among known transiting planets.

(NASA’s TESS Mission Scores ‘Hat Trick’ With 3 New Worlds, NASA)

Not more than five couple could be mustered; but the rarity and the suddenness of it made it very delightful, and she found herself well matched in a partner.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

As I raised the blind, and the morning sunlight flooded the room, I heard the Professor's low hiss of inspiration, and knowing its rarity, a deadly fear shot through my heart.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Pictures and prints which even my unpractised eyes could recognize as being of great price and rarity hung thick upon the walls.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They discovered that despite the rarity of hybrid butterflies – as a result of their reluctance to mate with one another – a surprisingly large amount of DNA has been shared between the species through hybridisation.

(Butterflies are genetically wired to choose a mate that looks just like them, University of Cambridge)

I opened it in his own presence, and showed him the small collection of rarities I made in the country from which I had been so strangely delivered.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

These whales I have known so large, that a man could hardly carry one upon his shoulders; and sometimes, for curiosity, they are brought in hampers to Lorbrulgrud; I saw one of them in a dish at the king’s table, which passed for a rarity, but I did not observe he was fond of it; for I think, indeed, the bigness disgusted him, although I have seen one somewhat larger in Greenland.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

It is true, I sometimes made a shift to catch a rabbit, or bird, by springs made of Yahoo’s hairs; and I often gathered wholesome herbs, which I boiled, and ate as salads with my bread; and now and then, for a rarity, I made a little butter, and drank the whey.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)