From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrarelyrare‧ly /ˈreəli $ ˈrerli/ ●●● W2 adverb RARELYnot often OPP frequently She very rarely complains. This method is rarely used in modern laboratories.GRAMMAR: Word order• Rarely usually comes before a verb: He rarely plays any sports.• Rarely usually comes after the verb ‘be’: She is rarely wrong.• Rarely usually comes after an auxiliary verb such as ‘do’ or ‘have’: I have rarely seen someone eat so much.• In written English, rarely is sometimes used at the beginning of a sentence before an auxiliary, to emphasize that something seems surprising or special: Rarely has a film looked so striking.Rarely does such a good investment opportunity arise.THESAURUSrarely not oftenThese geese are rarely found on inland waters.50% of Britons say they rarely eat meat.not (very) often often used in everyday English instead of saying rarelyTina’s not often late.I don’t go there very often.It’s not often that you get a chance like this.seldom rarely. Seldom is more formal than rarely and is used especially in written EnglishHe seldom slept well.They seldom went out.hardly ever/scarcely ever almost neverBen’s nineteen and he’s hardly ever at home these days.For some reason, her name was scarcely ever mentioned.very occasionally used when you want to emphasize that something only happens a few times over a long period of timeVery occasionally the temperature drops to below 30.
Examples from the Corpus
rarely• She is loved and visited by many, and is rarely alone.• Very rarely does she eat any kind of meat.• In practice, however, we have rarely fought any of our major wars with an exclusively Continental or Maritime strategy.• More rarely, however, have those between the same sheets remained largely unaware of their intimate if odd companionship.• Athletes play on one leg all the time in terms of injury but rarely if ever on no legs.• It had the dusty smell of an apartment whose windows were rarely opened.• Nowadays, the public is rarely shocked by swearing.• Alan rarely talked about his own work.• This mechanism is rarely used but is handy when a case is stalling. 