once in a while

Idioms  

1. Occasionally, not very often, as in Once in a while I enjoy going fishing. [Mid-1800s] Also see every now and then; from time to time.

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Example Sentences

He’d press on his stomach every once in a while, with a strained look on his face.

From Literature

It’s unfashionable in many precincts to admit it, but the market for precious metals still sends useful signals every once in a while.

From The Wall Street Journal

All we can do is hope to find someone we like, who makes us laugh and helps us feel, even just once in a while, that there’s magic in the world.

From Los Angeles Times

You think they’d fall overboard and get clean once in a while.”

From Los Angeles Times

Yet what makes this potentially the most important new opera of the year is not Huang’s agreeably efficient — and once in a while inspired — score, which incorporates Western and traditional music.

From Los Angeles Times