Rarely means something happens not many times. It shows 'almost never' or 'not often'. We use it to talk about things that do not happen a lot.
She rarely eats fast food.
We rarely go to the cinema.
Rarely can describe how often something unusual or special happens. It means it does not happen often, so it is special or different.
She is rarely kind to strangers.
This flower rarely grows in cold places.
Rarely is sometimes used at the start of a sentence for a strong or formal meaning. It shows something does not happen much and may surprise us.
Rarely had she seen such a beautiful sight.
Rarely does he speak about his plans.
In science, rarely describes events or facts that occur very sometimes or almost never. It helps explain how often something happens based on data.
This disease rarely affects young people.
Rarely do plants survive in such dry soil.
People use rarely in spoken English to show surprise or stress when something happens just once or twice. It gives more feeling to the sentence.
She rarely smiles like that.
He rarely visits his hometown now.
