Seldom — Sel dom (s[e^]l d[u^]m), adv. [Usually, Compar. {More seldom} (m[=o]r s[e^]l d[u^]m); superl. {Most seldom} (m[=o]st s[e^]l d[u^]m); but sometimes also, {Seldomer} (s[e^]l d[u^]m*[ e]r), {Seldomest}.] [AS. seldan, seldon, seldum, fr. seld rare;… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
Seldom — Sel dom, a. Rare; infrequent. [Archaic.] A suppressed and seldom anger. Jer. Taylor. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
seldom — O.E. seldum, alteration of seldan rare, on analogy of adverbial dative plurals in um (e.g. whilom at one time ), from P.Gmc. *selda strange, rare (Cf. O.N. sjaldan, O.Fris. selden, Du. zelden, Ger. selten), perhaps ultimately from the base of… … Etymology dictionary
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
seldom — ► ADVERB ▪ not often. ► ADJECTIVE dated ▪ infrequent. ORIGIN Old English … English terms dictionary
seldom — [sel′dəm] adv. [ME selden < OE seldan, strange, rare, akin to Ger selten < Gmc base * selda < ? IE * selo : see SELF] not often; rarely; infrequently adj. rare; infrequent seldomness n … English World dictionary
seldom — sel|dom [ˈseldəm] adv [: Old English; Origin: seldan] very rarely or almost never ▪ Karen had seldom seen him so angry. ▪ Ellie seldom wears slacks. seldom has sb done sth ▪ Seldom have I read an article that was so full of lies. see usage note… … Dictionary of contemporary English
seldom — [[t]se̱ldəm[/t]] ADV BRD NEG, ADV before v, ADV with cl/group If something seldom happens, it happens only occasionally. They seldom speak... I ve seldom felt so happy... We were seldom at home. Ant: often … 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
seldom — Synonyms and related words: abnormally, at infrequent intervals, few, hardly, hardly ever, incredibly, infrequently, irregularly, little, not often, occasional, occasionally, rare, rarely, scarce, scarcely, scarcely ever, seldom if ever, sparsely … Moby Thesaurus
