seldom

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English

Alternative forms

Etymology

From late Middle English seldom, alteration of earlier selden, from Old English seldan (“seldom”), from Proto-Germanic *seldanē. Cognate with Saterland Frisian säilden (“seldom”), West Frisian selden, komselden (“rare, seldom”), Dutch zelden, German selten, Danish sjælden, Norwegian sjelden, Swedish sällan, Faroese sjáldan, Icelandic sjaldan. More at seld and selly.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈsɛldəm/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɛldəm

Adverb

seldom (comparative more seldom or seldomer, superlative most seldom or seldomest)

  1. Infrequently, rarely.
    Synonyms: barely, hardly, rarely, scarcely, infrequently, seldomly; see also Thesaurus:rarely
    Antonyms: often, frequently; see also Thesaurus:often
    They seldom come here now.
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
      I corralled the judge, and we started off across the fields, in no very mild state of fear of that gentleman's wife, whose vigilance was seldom relaxed.
    • 2013 April 9, Andrei Lankov, “Stay Cool. Call North Korea’s Bluff.”, in New York Times‎:
      People who talk about an imminent possibility of war seldom pose this question: What would North Korea’s leadership get from unleashing a war that they are likely to lose in weeks, if not days?
    • 2013 June 1, “End of the peer show”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 71:
      Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.

Usage notes

  • It is grammatically a negative word. It therefore collocates with ever rather than never. Compare he seldom ever plays tennis with he almost never plays tennis.
  • The form seldomly, derived from the (now archaic) adjectival use, exists, but has not gained widespread acceptance.

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

seldom (comparative more seldom or seldomer, superlative most seldom or seldomest)

  1. (archaic) Rare; infrequent.
    Synonyms: geason, uncommon; see also Thesaurus:rare
    • 1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living. , 2nd edition, London: Francis Ashe , →OCLC:
      a suppressed and seldom anger
    • 1850, Vignaud Pamphlets: Sir Isaac Newton, page 513:
      He was very curious in his garden, which was never out of order; in which he would at seldom times take a short walk or two, not enduring to see a weed in it.

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Anagrams

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English seldan.

Adverb

seldom

  1. Alternative form of selden (“seldom”)

Etymology 2

From Old English selden.

Adjective

seldom

  1. Alternative form of selden (“uncommon”)
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