seldom

Valid in Scrabble

Scrabble points
9
Words With Friends
11
Letters
6
Pronunciation
/ˈsɛldəm/

Definition of seldom

2 senses · 2 parts of speech · etymology included

adv

  1. Infrequently, rarely.
    “They seldom come here now.”
    “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.”
    “But one thing I was perfectly certain about. Reality or nightmare, I needed a drink as I had seldom needed one before.”
    “No well-meaning friends sayin' bad things / No friends' telephone that only seldom rings / No lingering doubts that try to bring me down / Can turn my love around or make me give up, darling”
    “I'll miss the sea. But a person needs new experiences. They draw something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change, something sleeps inside us and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.”
See all 2 definitions

adv

  1. Infrequently, rarely.
    “They seldom come here now.”
    “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.”
    “But one thing I was perfectly certain about. Reality or nightmare, I needed a drink as I had seldom needed one before.”
    “No well-meaning friends sayin' bad things / No friends' telephone that only seldom rings / No lingering doubts that try to bring me down / Can turn my love around or make me give up, darling”
    “I'll miss the sea. But a person needs new experiences. They draw something deep inside, allowing him to grow. Without change, something sleeps inside us and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.”

adj

  1. (archaic)Rare; infrequent.
    “a suppressed and seldom anger”
    “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.”

Definitions from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA.

Etymology

From late Middle English seldom, alteration of earlier selden by analogy with adverbial datives such as whilom, from Old English seldan (“seldom”), from Proto-West Germanic *seldanā, from Proto-Germanic *seldanē. Cognate…

See full etymology

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

Anagrams of seldom

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