rarely/seldom ever

rarely/seldom ever
rarely/seldom ever
: almost never :rarely

We seldom ever dine out these days.

She rarely ever drinks wine.

◇ Some people regard rarely ever and seldom ever as incorrect, but these phrase are common in speech and in informal writing.
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Main Entry:ever

Useful english dictionary. 2012.

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Look at other dictionaries:

  • rarely/seldom if ever — used as a more forceful way to say “rarely” or “seldom” I have seldom if ever been so embarrassed. ◇ Rarely if ever and seldom if ever can be written both with or without commas Such radical opinions have rarely, if ever, been heard here before …   Useful english dictionary

  • seldom — rarely, seldom It is acceptable to say rarely if ever or seldom if ever but not (except informally) rarely ever or seldom ever: We rarely if ever go out / ☒ We rarely ever go out. In the second example, hardly ever or scarcely ever could be… …   Modern English usage

  • rarely — rarely, seldom It is acceptable to say rarely if ever or seldom if ever but not (except informally) rarely ever or seldom ever: We rarely if ever go out / ☒ We rarely ever go out. In the second example, hardly ever or scarcely ever could be… …   Modern English usage

  • rarely, rarely ever — Rarely means seldom, infrequently, not often : She rarely goes to the movies. The phrase rarely ever is wordy, unidiomatic, and illogical. Instead of saying She rarely ever sings, say She rarely sings or She hardly ever sings or She sings rarely …   Dictionary of problem words and expressions

  • rarely — rare|ly W2 [ˈreəli US ˈrerli] adv not often ≠ ↑frequently ▪ She very rarely complains. ▪ This method is rarely used in modern laboratories. ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ WORD CHOICE: rarely, seldom, hardly, scarcely Rarely and seldom both mean not often . Seldom is… …   Dictionary of contemporary English

  • ever — ev|er [ evər ] adverb *** 1. ) usually in negatives or questions at any time in the past, present, or future: If you ever need any help, just let me know. Was Ron ever in the army? have you ever done something?: Have you ever been to Las Vegas?… …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • ever */*/*/ — UK [ˈevə(r)] / US [ˈevər] adverb 1) at any time a) [usually in negatives or questions] at any time in the past, present, or future If you ever need any help, just let me know. Was Desmond ever in the army? have you ever done something?: Have you… …   English dictionary

  • seldom — adv 1. infrequently, rarely, very rarely, seldom if ever, hardly, hardly ever, scarcely, scarcely ever; on rare occasions, occasionally, only now and then, once in a great while, Inf. once in a blue moon, Inf. once in a coon s age. 2. rare,… …   A Note on the Style of the synonym finder

  • seldom — [adv] infrequently a few times, every now and then, from time to time, hardly, hardly ever, in a few cases, inhabitually, irregularly, little, not often, not very often, occasionally, on and off, once in a blue moon*, once in a while, rarely,… …   New thesaurus

  • rarely — [adv] not often; exceptionally almost never, barely, extra, extraordinarily, extremely, finely, hardly, hardly ever, infrequently, little, notably, now and then, once in a while, once in blue moon*, on rare occasions, remarkably, scarcely ever,… …   New thesaurus

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