In the English Grammar Profile, B2 point 61 in the category of ADJECTIVES is defined as:
adjective phrases with ‘rather a’ + adjective, often in formal contexts
A search in iWeb for
rather a _JJ
1 RATHER A LONG 392
Further collocates 4 to the left and right:
1 TIME (NNT1 ) 187
2 WAY (NN1 ) 46
3 AGO (RA ) 24
4 TOOK (VVD ) 16
5 TERM (NN1 ) 15
2 RATHER A NEW 289
1 BUT (CCB ) 191
2 WAY (NN1 ) 25
3 BEGINNING (NN1 ) 14
3 RATHER A GOOD 264
1 THING (NN1 ) 18
2 IDEA (NN1 ) 17
3 THOUGHT (VVD ) 11
4 RATHER A LARGE 213
5 RATHER A SMALL 207
6 RATHER A DIFFERENT 180
7 RATHER A SIMPLE 166
8 RATHER A GENERAL 138
9 RATHER A NICE 104
10 RATHER A WHOLE 100
11 RATHER A BIG 99
12 RATHER A NATURAL 93
13 RATHER A SINGLE 88
14 RATHER A GREAT 83
15 RATHER A WEAK 77
16 RATHER A COMPLEX 76
17 RATHER A SPECIAL 76
18 RATHER A UNIQUE 76
19 RATHER A SLOW 71
20 RATHER A SPECIFIC 69
rather a beautiful