occasionally
Americanadverb
adverb
Etymology
Origin of occasionally
First recorded in 1615–25; occasional + -ly
Explanation
Something that happens occasionally doesn't happen all the time, just every once in a while. You play poker occasionally just to remind yourself that you always lose. The adverb occasionally is good for things that happen every now and then. You get tired of the cold occasionally, but the snow is lovely. Occasionally, you think of your long lost love, but never write. The idea comes to you occasionally that you should move somewhere with more people and warmer weather. I worry about you occasionally.
Vocabulary lists containing occasionally
"Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" by Joyce Carol Oates
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Excerpt from "Bad Boy"
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Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
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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.
Instead, they must send officers whose misconduct they deem severe to disciplinary panels, which occasionally lead to lighter penalties.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026
Squabbles between distributors and programmers are commonplace and occasionally lead to short-term channel disruptions.
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 30, 2025
Understandably, the communication barrier can occasionally lead to griping.
From Scientific American • Aug. 3, 2023
This fondness for human habitation does occasionally lead to people getting bit — 1,004 cases in 2021, according to America’s Poison Centers — but deaths are extremely rare.
From New York Times • Mar. 13, 2023
Here I am concerned to show that this habit of allowing for the coloured medium may, in its turn, occasionally lead to plain and palpable illusion.
From Illusions A Psychological Study by Sully, James
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.
