Comments on: The Opposite of Dense

By: devan

devan — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 10:41:56 +0000

Excellent! So glad I could help, Will.

By: Will

Will — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 09:15:10 +0000

“Meat is very calorie dense, while fruits and vegetables are generally calorie rare.” The fact that I couldn’t phrase this as I wanted was killing me – until I came across this archaic little gem. I’m going to start using rare in this context whenever I can, and if anyone questions it I’ll just point them to this site.

By: A Fly in the Ointment « Simple Scientist

A Fly in the Ointment « Simple Scientist — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:03:39 +0000

[...] fluid should be accompanied by a corresponding decrease in its pressure. Air can be considered a rare (i.e. not dense) [...]

By: devan

devan — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 13:21:26 +0000

Your points about the ambiguity across these two meanings of rare seem right on the money to me. And yes! English as a language is so muddled that there is almost never a “perfect word,” as you put it. It’s frustrating and at the same time, leads to rich conversations like this one. And as a creative writer, I have to say I’m glad for it, because it allows me some play in the language I choose that might not be there otherwise. (I’m not quite good enough with any other languages for this to be a fair comparison, but all the same.)

Thanks for your comments, and also for the interesting backstory on the word. It’s been a long time since I took Latin, but it was nice to spot the rara in there among the rest.

By: Aaron

Aaron — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 01:32:34 +0000

I appreciate your thoughtful responses. I can see ‘rare’ causing some confusion in statements such as
Helium is used to fill balloons because it is such a rare gas.

The Earth’s mantle is made of dense rocks such as olivine, but on the Earth’s surface these rocks are rare.

A dense fog is quite rare.

Either way, it is good to know that I am not the only person bothered by the lack of the perfect word. Concentration, which is very similar physically, has dilute, saturated, supersaturated, and concentrated to describe various points along its spectrum.

For another person’s attempt at a word to fill this linguistic vacuum, here is some context on ‘londis’.
Latin
Sed cum sint genera terrarum plurima, ut pinguis aut macra, spissa uel rara, sicca uel umida et ex his pleraque uitiosa, tamen propter seminum differentiam saepe necessaria maxime, sicut supra dixi, eligendus est pinguis ac resolutus ager, qui minimum laborem petit, fructum maximum reddit…..

Middle English
The londis fatte, or lene, or thicke, or rare, Or drie or moyst, and not withouten vice—ffor dyuers seed, yet, they right needful are…..

English (as translated in 1807)
But as there are many sorts of earth, as the rich or poor, dense or loose, dry or moist, and most of these inelegible……

By: devan

devan — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 15:16:50 +0000

Glad you found me here, Aaron, and don't worry about being late. English moves slowly enough that the issue's still as relevant as it ever was! As for your question, I'd argue against buoyant because it refers specifically to the property of floating. It means "less dense than a particular medium in which the object being described is floating or would float"—typically water, but sometimes air (as in the case of helium balloons). It's perhaps akin to using serious as the opposite of light: It's the right word sometimes, but not all the time. Rare, I think, covers many more cases—including buoyancy (which it can imply, which a little extra work), for example, and sparseness (as in the "rare forest" example). Of course, if you're using dense to describe a person who's slightly slow to catch on to things, rare won't work at all. It seems appropriate mostly for physical properties (but I've not heard buoyant used outside the realm of the physical, either).

By: Aaron

Aaron — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 14:23:32 +0000

I know this is late, but google just brought me here today.

Why not bouyant?

By: Does language affect how you think? Language Relativity « Brain hungry! Feed me! Entertain me!

Fri, 04 Jun 2010 21:25:26 +0000

[...] (See http://www.devangoldstein.com/219/opposite-of-dense/ for the post I mentioned, which also looks into the history of English to find a better word to use that “light” or “not-dense.”) [...]

By: devan

devan — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:56:36 +0000

That’s excellent news Refael! Glad to hear a new generation is curious.

And I’d forgotten about rarefied—nice work.

By: Refael

Refael — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 11:32:32 +0000

I think that the word “rare” is still in use. What I have encountered more frequently is “rarefied”, often used in the sense of a gas made less dense.

My son asked me the opposite of “dense” just today, and I am happy to have passed on this word to the next generation.