frequently
Americanadverb
Related Words
See often.
Etymology
Origin of frequently
Explanation
If you do something frequently, you do it repeatedly, again and again. If you frequently visit the cookie jar, you might gain some unwanted pounds. Doctors and nurses have to wash their hands frequently, many times each day, since they touch various patients and don't want to spread germs. When you're driving in rush hour traffic, you usually find yourself stopping frequently. Things that occur over and over, especially in a relatively short time frame, happen frequently. The adverb frequently comes from the adjective frequent, which originally meant "profuse or ample," from the Latin root frequentem, "crowded or repeated."
Vocabulary lists containing frequently
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
SGS, Bureau Veritas and Intertek frequently buy smaller rivals to add new services to their portfolios or expand to new markets.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 16, 2026
At a high school in Nacka just outside Stockholm, final-year students are unpacking laptops from rucksacks and tote bags, alongside items they say they used less frequently a few years ago.
From BBC • Apr. 15, 2026
But more frequently, prosecutors dropped charges when the claims made by immigration officers and agents didn’t match video evidence or other inconsistencies emerged.
From Salon • Apr. 15, 2026
Door handles, faucet knobs, and flush levers tend to be more contaminated because they are frequently touched, often with unwashed hands.
From Science Daily • Apr. 13, 2026
I have heard the expression “trick of the light” applied to sights within Le Cirque des Rêves so frequently that I sometimes suspect the entirety of the circus is itself a complex illusion of illumination.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
