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.
At the same time, Cassaday, worked as a vet tech, a gig she’d had off and on for a decade when she lived in Wisconsin.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
Armenia’s public pushback against Putin has taken place against a broader decoupling between Russia and the former Soviet state, which had been under Moscow’s rule off and on for more than 100 years.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
He now works off and on as a tailor.
From Barron's ● Sep. 1, 2026
Resetting the heart "is like switching a computer off and on again", he explains, adding that ICDs are "highly effective devices".
From BBC ● Jun. 8, 2026
She had been in my room off and on to see about me.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
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.
