滅めっ多たに

め

っ

た

に

Common wordJLPTN3Freq.FrequencyTop 20,000

Meanings

1

rarely; seldom

Always used with a negative verb; means 'almost never' or 'hardly ever'.

He rarely gets angry.

この辺あたりでは滅めっ多たに雪ゆきが降ふらない。

It seldom snows around here.

滅めっ多たに〈動どう詞し〉ないrarely does <verb>
彼かれはめったに遅ち刻こくしない。
He is rarely late.
滅めっ多たにない〈物もの〉a rare, uncommon (thing)
こんな滅めっ多たにないチャンスを逃のがしたくない。
I don't want to miss such a rare chance.

ほとんどN4
ほとんど can mean 'almost' or 'mostly' in both positive and negative sentences, while 滅多に is used only with a negative verb to stress how rarely something happens.
余あまりN5
あまり with a negative verb softly means 'not very often', whereas 滅多に is stronger and means 'hardly ever at all'.

よくN5
よく paired with a positive verb means 'often', the opposite of 滅多に which pairs with a negative verb to mean 'rarely'.
たびたびN3
めったに (usually with a negative verb) means 'rarely', the opposite of 度々's sense of frequent repetition.
しょっちゅうN2
めったに (usually with a negative verb) means 'rarely', directly opposite in frequency to しょっちゅう's 'very often'.

The kanji 滅多 are ateji (phonetic) and do not contribute meaning. The word is of native Japanese origin, but the exact derivation is uncertain.