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Anonymous Posted 15 years ago
Vocabulary

Seldom/rarely

Hi,

Is there any difference between rarely and seldom? For example:

He is seldom at home.

He is rarely at home.

Does the sentence below mean the same as the ones above?

"He is not at home a lot."

Thanks.
  

Top answer

Rarely is generally less frequent than seldom , but there is no objective scale. 'He is not at home a lot' probably means 'seldom', but the same guideline applies: there is no absolute relationship.

— Mister Micawber

  • Rarely is generally less frequent than seldom , but there is no objective scale.
  • 'He is not at home a lot' probably means 'seldom', but the same guideline applies: there is no absolute relationship.
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3 Answers
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Rarely is generally less frequent than seldom, but there is no objective scale. 'He is not at home a lot' probably means 'seldom', but the same guideline applies: there is no absolute relationship.
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To me, they're almost the same. If you say this to native english speakers, they tend not to pay much attention to such a difference.

They appear to be the same "he's not usually at home".
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