off and on
Idioms-
Also, on and off.
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Intermittently, from time to time. For example, I read his column off and on , or We've been working on the garden all summer, on and off . [Early 1500s]
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Also, off again, on again ; on again, off again . Uncertain, vacillating, as in Theirs is an off again, on again relationship , or The peace talks are on again, off again . Some believe this term originally referred to minor railroad accidents, where a train went off track and then on again. [Mid-1800s]
Vocabulary lists containing off-and-on
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.
I did that for off and on throughout like seven-ish years, but I always loved acting.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2026
Because it’s liquid-fueled, “you can deep throttle it, you can turn it way down, you can turn it off, you can turn off and on an infinite number of times.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 14, 2026
Thomas Bechtel has been looking off and on for a condo in Chicago for two years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 11, 2026
After frantic work in the garage, Mercedes managed to fix Russell's car by applying a series of default procedures such as switching the car off and on again and swapping out the steering wheel.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026
Derrik joked with me off and on, but generally found me too reserved for his tastes.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
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.
