rather recently

USAGE SUMMARY

The phrase "rather recently" is correct and usable in written English.
It can be used to indicate that something happened not long ago, but not in the immediate past. Example: "I moved to this city rather recently, so I'm still getting to know the area."

✓ Grammatically correct

Science

News & Media

Formal & Business

Human-verified examples from authoritative sources

Exact Expressions

53 human-written examples

These estimations suggest that two recent expansions took place rather recently, one before and one after the last glacial maximum (LGM).

BMC Evolutionary Biology

"B.T. woke up to the attraction of minority investments rather recently," said John Tysoe, an analyst with WestLB Panmure.

The New York Times

Until rather recently, Agassi's wife, Steffi Graf, was winning major after major and Boris Becker and Michael Stich were intimidating opponents at Wimbledon.

The New York Times - Sports

My feelings were complicated by the fact that, until rather recently, to my great shame, I'd regularly slept with my parents on the cot in their room, and not in the room where I kept my clothes and things.

The New Yorker

In their book "Mismatch: Why Our World No Longer Fits Our Bodies", Peter Gluckman and Mark Hanson argue that the big changes in human history, most of which have happened rather recently in humans' evolutionary history, have not been matched by changes in human biology.

The Economist

Fuzzy hyperalgebras were introduced rather recently.

Journal of Inequalities and Applications

Human-verified similar examples from authoritative sources

Similar Expressions

6 human-written examples

Rather, the recently emancipated countries of Latin America faced the much more daunting challenge of defining and consolidating new nations.

Encyclopedia Britannica

If economists are only cautiously optimistic, that may be because some of the other economic indicators have been rather rotten recently.

The New York Times

An ample dispenser of arcane information, Dad sternly tells Curtis that "we call it a dinner jacket," the word tuxedo having been coined rather too recently and spread to all classes of society with unfortunate haste.

The New York Times

Alas, sunspot activity has been rather quiet recently.

Forbes

Despite its tangible complexity for learning, functional programming is becoming rather popular, recently several chemoinformatics frameworks: OUCH and chemf were presented.

Journal of Cheminformatics

Expert writing Tips

Best practice

Use "rather recently" to indicate that something occurred not in the immediate past, but within a timeframe that is still considered recent. It's often used to contrast with events that happened much earlier.

Common error

While "rather recently" is grammatically correct, avoid overusing it in informal writing or speech. Simpler alternatives like "recently" or "lately" may sound more natural.

Linguistic Context

The phrase "rather recently" functions as an adverbial phrase modifying a verb or clause to indicate the time frame of an action or event. It specifies that something occurred not in the distant past, but not in the immediate present either, aligning with the examples provided by Ludwig.

Expression frequency: Very common

Frequent in

Science

55%

News & Media

35%

Formal & Business

10%

Less common in

Encyclopedias

0%

Wiki

0%

Reference

0%

Ludwig's WRAP-UP

In summary, "rather recently" is a grammatically correct and frequently used adverbial phrase that indicates an event occurred not long ago. As Ludwig AI indicates, its usage spans various contexts, with a prevalence in scientific and news-related domains. While it is often interchangeable with alternatives like "quite recently" or "fairly recently", "rather recently" carries a subtle emphasis on the time frame being recent in relation to something else. When writing, keep in mind that "rather recently" is appropriate for neutral to formal settings.

More alternative expressions

Phrases that express similar concepts, ordered by semantic similarity:

quite recently

Emphasizes the recency of an event, similar to "rather recently" but with a slightly stronger emphasis.

fairly recently

Indicates a moderate degree of recency, close in meaning to "rather recently".

somewhat recently

Suggests a slight degree of recency, implying the event happened not too long ago.

relatively recently

Highlights that an event is recent in comparison to a specific timeframe or benchmark.

just recently

Implies the event occurred in the very near past, slightly more immediate than "rather recently".

not long ago

A more general way to indicate the event happened in the past, but not distant.

in recent times

Broader than "rather recently", referring to a general period of recency.

lately

Suggests a period of time leading up to the present.

of late

A more formal and slightly archaic way of saying lately.

in the recent past

Specifies that the event happened in the past, but within a recent timeframe.

FAQs

How can I use "rather recently" in a sentence?

You can use "rather recently" to indicate an event that happened not long ago. For example, "I moved to this city rather recently, so I'm still getting to know the area."

What are some alternatives to saying "rather recently"?

You can use alternatives like "quite recently", "fairly recently", or "somewhat recently" depending on the context.

Is it better to say "recently" or "rather recently"?

While both are correct, "rather recently" adds a slight emphasis on the recency of the event. "Recently" is more neutral, while "rather recently" suggests a contrast with something that happened longer ago.

What's the difference between "rather recently" and "just recently"?

"Just recently" implies a more immediate past compared to "rather recently". "Just recently" suggests something happened very shortly before the present moment.