verb
Other Word Forms
- intermitter noun
- intermittingly adverb
- intermittor noun
- unintermitted adjective
- unintermitting adjective
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!
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.
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
I set, as it were, the small tick of my own poor watch by it—which private register would thump or intermit in agreement with these indications.
From Notes of a Son and Brother by James, Henry
Hence some fevers perfectly intermit, the stomach recovering its complete action after the torpor and consequent orgasm, which constitute the paroxysm of fever, are terminated.
From Zoonomia, Vol. II Or, the Laws of Organic Life by Darwin, Erasmus
Napoleon continued, however, the frequency of his correspondence, and, notwithstanding the jealousy of Maria Louisa, did not at all intermit his visits.
From Josephine Makers of History by Abbott, John S. C. (John Stevens Cabot)
Run to your houses, fall upon your knees, Pray to the gods to intermit the plague55 That needs must light on this ingratitude.
From The Ontario High School Reader by Marty, A.E.
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.
