verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of intermit
1535–45; < Latin intermittere to leave a space between, drop (for a while), leave off, equivalent to inter- inter- + mittere to send, let go
Explanation
To intermit is to stop doing something for a while. You might intermit your Spanish classes this summer so you can take a full-time job as a lifeguard. Intermit is a formal or old-fashioned way to say "pause," or sometimes "pause periodically." It's much more common to use the adjective intermittent for things that start and stop, and both words come from the Latin inter, "between," and mittere, "to send." If you regularly intermit your dog training sessions, it's going to take a lot longer to teach Spot to heel!
Vocabulary lists containing intermit
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.
See Examples For:
With the cold war's intermit tent crises no longer seeming so momentous, one eye of U.S. foreign policy has shifted to the long view.
From Time Magazine Archive
Though Franklin took every thing by the smooth handle, he did not, on that account, intermit any intensity of labor to accomplish his purposes.
From Benjamin Franklin A Picture of the Struggles of Our Infant Nation One Hundred Years Ago American Pioneers and Patriots Series by John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot) Abbott
It must not be supposed, however, that this private sorrow induced Mrs Twitter selfishly to forget the poor, or intermit her labours among them.
From Dusty Diamonds Cut and Polished A Tale of City Arab Life and Adventure by R. M. (Robert Michael) Ballantyne
Never will I intermit my enmity to our invaders; never will I live for any other object than the liberties of our people.
From The Hour and the Man, An Historical Romance by Harriet Martineau
Only in the early morning, and for an hour, or an hour and a half after lunch, did Claude intermit his labors.
From The Way of Ambition by J. H. Gardner Soper
The clapping of his hands was intermitted by a violent clapping of the chest on which he sat, first on the top, then on the sides and end.
From North-Pole Voyages by Zachariah Atwell Mudge
The song was occasionally intermitted to give room to certain self-communings which the pastime suggested.
From Horse-Shoe Robinson A Tale of the Tory Ascendency by John Pendleton Kennedy
It was a nightly ceremony which had not been intermitted since the two came to the Point.
From Woven with the Ship A Novel of 1865 by Cyrus Townsend Brady
The fierce equinoctial blasts which that year had lasted for more than a month, were followed by a fortnight of fitful, heavy rain, intermitted by sudden gales and stormy showers.
From The Pobratim A Slav Novel by P. Jones
He desired to drink, but could not swallow, his pulse intermitted, his tongue swelled, his throat was excoriated, his breath difficult and interrupted.
From Beggars on Horseback by F. Tennyson (Fryniwyd Tennyson) Jesse
Mrs Ndisang said "no reason was given" as to why intermission was refused "but it was very clear intermitting was not an option".
From BBC ● Apr. 24, 2023
There are several Kinds of intermitting Fevers, which take their different Names from the Interval or different Space of Time, in which the Fits return.
From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David) Tissot
But it happens, sometimes that a distinctly intermitting neuralgia occurs as an early symptom of phthisis; in fact, where there is a predisposition to neurotic affections, I believe that this is not very uncommon.
From Neuralgia and the Diseases that Resemble it by Francis E. Anstie
But whenever the intermitting Fever is simple and uncombined, it ever has, and ever will render the Patient all possible Service.
From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David) Tissot
These Countries are particularly subject to intermitting Fevers; of which I shall treat briefly hereafter.
From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David) Tissot
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
