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
It enables him to intermit labour in times of sickness and sorrow and old age, and in those extremes of heat and cold during which active labour is little less than physical pain.
From The Map of Life Conduct and Character by William Edward Hartpole Lecky
I am obliged to acknowledge my belief that Mrs. Loraine's messenger was exceedingly unreasonable, for he did not intermit his hammering long enough to ascertain whether any one was coming to the door or not.
From Seek and Find or The Adventures of a Smart Boy by Oliver Optic
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
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
His only systematic reading was a persistent, though frequently intermitted, exploration of religious biographies and the literature of religious conversion, in preparation for the Gifford Lectures.
From The Letters of William James, Vol. II by William James
One, two, three—the hearers counted the drum beats, time and again, in their intermitted booming, to twenty-four.
From The Indian Drum by Edwin Balmer
For the same reason the wailing is again intermitted while the grave is being dug.
From Fetichism in West Africa Forty Years' Observations of Native Customs and Superstitions by Robert Hamill Nassau
But the stern resistance of the natives was not intermitted.
The doctors say in their account that it was while they intermitted the holding of our feet.
From The Death-Blow to Spiritualism Being the True Story of the Fox Sisters by Reuben Briggs Davenport
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
One Symptom, which most particularly characterises these several Species of intermitting Fevers, is the Quality of the Urines which the Sick pass after the Fit.
From Advice to the people in general, with regard to their health by S. A. D. (Samuel Auguste David) Tissot
I waited long months, watch in hand, for the latter to show some sign of intermitting these amiabilities to such an enemy—the very smallest would have sufficed for me to throw myself back upon it.
From The Letters of Henry James, Vol. II by Henry James
Good-sense will allow of some intermitting Fevers, but then the Fit must be short.
From A Character of King Charles the Second by George Savile, Marquis of Halifax
I was not glad to feel the intermitting tenor supplant that soprano.
From Charles Auchester, Volume 1 of 2 by Elizabeth Sheppard
Random Word
Spin the wheel and learn a new word!
Get a wordDefinitions 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.
