Rarely vs Often - What's the difference?
rarely | often |
Not occurring at a regular interval; seldom; not often.
Unusually well; excellently.
To a rare degree; very.
*, II.32:
Frequently, many times.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
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Often is a antonym of rarely.
As adverbs the difference between rarely and often
is that rarely is not occurring at a regular interval; seldom; not often while often is frequently, many times.rarely
English
Adverb
(en adverb)- We rarely go to the theatre.
- Rarely do you ever find an eagle this far up the river.
- others speake very honourably of his life and death, and in all other circumstances declare him to have beene a most excellent and rarely virtuous man.
Usage notes
It is grammatically a negative word. It therefore collocates with ever rather than never. * Compare We rarely ever go to the theatre.'' with ''We almost never go to the theatre.Synonyms
* barely * hardly * infrequently * once in a while * seldom * sporadically * scarcelyAntonyms
* frequently, usually, oftenReferences
* * English frequency adverbsoften
English
Adverb
(en-adv)Obama goes troll-hunting, passage=According to this saga of intellectual-property misanthropy, these creatures [patent trolls] roam the business world, buying up patents and then using them to demand extravagant payouts from companies they accuse of infringing them. Often , their victims pay up rather than face the costs of a legal battle.}}