seldom

1. 1
   adverb

   Only on rare occasions; not happening often or at regular intervals.

   She seldom leaves the house before noon.

   A storm of that size seldom strikes the coast twice in one season.

   Similarrarely, infrequently, hardly, scarcely, uncommonly

   Oppositeoften, frequently, always, occasionally

   Note

   A word reshaped by its neighbors: Old English seldan became late Middle English selden, then took an -om ending by analogy with old adverbial datives such as whilom. It still compares two ways, more seldom or seldomer, most seldom or seldomest. In use it usually sits just before the verb it qualifies, as in they seldom come or a vigilance that was seldom relaxed.

2. 2
   adjectivearchaic

   Rare and infrequent; occurring on only a few occasions.

   In that remote village, a stranger was a seldom guest.

   a suppressed and seldom anger

   1651, Jer[emy] Taylor, The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living.

   Similarrare, infrequent, uncommon, scarce

   Note

   An archaic adjective that stands before its noun. Jeremy Taylor's The Rule and Exercises of Holy Living speaks of "a suppressed and seldom anger", and the Vignaud Pamphlets on Sir Isaac Newton (1850) still have "at seldom times". Today it reads as deliberate period flavor. In ordinary prose, uncommon or rare does the job, or the sentence can be recast around the everyday adverb.

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