rarely

From rare +‎ -ly.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɹɛːli/

• Audio (US)

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rarely (comparative rarelier or more rarely, superlative rareliest or most rarely)

1. Not occurring at a regular interval; seldom; not often. [from 16th c.]

   We rarely go to the theatre.

   Rarely do you ever find an eagle this far up the river.

2. Unusually well; excellently. [from 16th c.]
3. To a rare degree; very. [from 16th c.]
   • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, chapter 32, in The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     others speake very honourably of his life and death, and in all other circumstances declare him to have beene a most excellent and rarely virtuous man.

It is grammatically a negative word. It therefore collocates with ever rather than never.

• Compare We rarely ever go to the theatre. with We almost never go to the theatre.

• barely
• hardly
• infrequently
• once in a while
• seldom
• sporadically
• scarcely

• frequently, usually, often

• rarely in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• rarely in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

• rearly