intermittently
Americanadverb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of intermittently
Explanation
The adverb intermittently describes something that starts, then stops, then starts up again. If you studied intermittently last night, that means sometimes you studied but sometimes you took breaks to do other things. If something happens intermittently, it doesn’t happen all the time or in a steady flow, but goes in fits and starts. It might rain intermittently on Monday or your car might intermittently refuse to start. Make sure you spell intermittently with two “t”s. You can blame the Latin for that: intermittently evolved from the Latin root intermittĕre, which means “to cease.”
Vocabulary lists containing intermittently
Unbroken
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The Haunting of Hill House
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Kindred
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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.
Elder sister Venus has played intermittently on the WTA Tour over the past few years and reached the quarter-finals of the US Open women's doubles last year.
From BBC • May 28, 2026
Recipients of these benefits in turn regularly have their finances reevaluated, and are also intermittently examined by medical and vocational experts, to determine whether their payments will continue.
From Salon • Apr. 29, 2026
On a cold and intermittently rainy night in San Francisco, the Dodgers’ bats were cold, and most productive when not used.
From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 22, 2026
But since last fall, it’s been intermittently serving up ads, part of a pilot program being tested on some of Samsung’s smart fridges sold in the U.S.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 23, 2026
The tents, no more than 650 horizontal feet away, were only intermittently visible through the whiteout.
From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer
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.
