Seldom means rarely or not often. When something happens seldom, it occurs only once in a while, with long stretches of time in between. A student who seldom raises their hand in class might speak up only a few times all year. A family that seldom eats out might go to a restaurant only on special occasions.

The word emphasizes that the gaps between occurrences are notably long. If your aunt seldom visits, you might see her once or twice a year rather than monthly. If a weather forecaster says snow falls seldom in a particular city, residents might go years between snowfalls.

You can use seldom at the beginning of a sentence for emphasis: “Seldom have I seen such a close game” means the game was unusually tight. Writers often choose seldom over “rarely” when they want to sound a bit more formal or when the rhythm of the sentence works better. Notice that seldom carries a neutral tone: it simply describes infrequency without suggesting whether that's good or bad.