occasionally
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English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From occasional + -ly.
Pronunciation
[edit]- IPA(key): /əˈkeɪʒənəli/, /əˈkeɪʒnəli/, /əˈkeɪʒənli/
Audio (US): (file) - Hyphenation: oc‧ca‧sion‧al‧ly, oc‧casi‧onal‧ly, oc‧casion‧ally
Adverb
[edit]occasionally (comparative more occasionally, superlative most occasionally)
- On occasion: at relatively infrequent intervals, from time to time, sometimes. [from 15th c.]
- 1639, Henry Ainsworth, Annotations Upon the Five Books of Moses, the Book of the Psalmes and the Song of Songs, page 177:
- God ſetteth no houres for the morning or evening ſacrifice because they may occaſionally be changed.
- 1855, Horace Mann, “On the Statistical Position of Religious Bodies in England and Wales”, in Journal of the Statistical Society of London, volume 18, number 2, page 152:
- Some perhaps worship only on alternate Sundays; others still more occasionally.
- 1978, Stephen R. Graubard, “Twenty Years of 'Daedalus'”, in Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, volume 32, number 3, page 18:
- The journal, more occasionally, has turned to what might be called "fashionable" themes.
- 2007 August 17, Matt Gouras/AP, “Wildfires Rage in Montana”, in Time:
- Flames could still be seen from town flaring up occasionally on a hill dotted with emergency vehicles.
- (obsolete) On an occasion, accidentally, by chance. [17th–18th c.]
- 1748, [Samuel Richardson], “Letter CLXI”, in Clarissa. Or, The History of a Young Lady: […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to VII), London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; […], →OCLC:
- Mr Tourville occasionally told his age; just turned of thirty-one.
- 1751, [Tobias] Smollett, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC:
- [N]othing gave him so much joy in conversation, as an opportunity of giving the company to understand, how well he was with persons of distinguished rank and character: he would often (for example) observe, as it were occasionally, that the duke of G— was one of the best natured men in the world […] .
- 1790, James Boswell, in Danziger & Brady (eds.), Boswell: The Great Biographer (Journals 1789–1795), Yale 1989, p. 103:
- I had met Lord Ossory in the forenoon, who had come to town occasionally.
- (obsolete) On the occasion of something else happening; incidentally, by the way. [15th–18th c.]
- 1588, G[abriel] H[arvey], “The Fourth Letter. To the Same Favourable or Indifferent Reader.”, in J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, Fovre Letters, and Certaine Sonnets, […] (Miscellaneous Tracts Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I), [London: s.n., published 1870], →OCLC, page 56:
- Were nothing els diſcourſively inſerted (as ſome little elſe occaſionally preſented it ſelfe), what paper more currently fit for the bareſt mechanicall uſes, [...]
- 1619, John Richardson, John Toland, The Canon of the New Testament Vindicated, page 30:
- I think it is plain, that Origen, whatever Character he may have occaſionally given of this Book, did not judge it any part of the Canon...
Synonyms
[edit]- (at relatively infrequent intervals): See Thesaurus:occasionally
Translations
[edit]at relatively infrequent intervals
Categories:
- English terms suffixed with -ly
- English 5-syllable words
- English 4-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English adverbs
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English frequency adverbs
- en:Time
- English positive polarity items