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.
Intermittently “Ballade” includes a lustrous sisterhood of what seem to be junior nymphs attending their sibling.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 13, 2025
Intermittently since June, John Eastman has appeared in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom as lawyers for the California Bar build the case that he is unfit to practice law.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 11, 2023
Intermittently, parades of staff ferry birthday desserts from STK’s kitchen, waving fireworks up in the air near the ceiling-swoops, which, at all closely examined, are clearly joined by tape and possibly made of paperboard.
From Seattle Times • Jun. 24, 2022
Intermittently his soft mellow voice rises in Hebrew and he is joined by the dozens who recite after him.
From BBC • Oct. 17, 2021
Intermittently, huge clouds of dust swelled upward, lingered a few moments in the air, and then settled down to make everything and everybody reddish brown.
From "Kaffir Boy: An Autobiography" by Mark Mathabane
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.
