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

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

“We expect things like this to occur once in a while due to the volume of tests.”

From The Wall Street Journal

“I watched him in action and learned from him, and he handed me books once in a while,” Mayer says.

From The Wall Street Journal

It’s been happening frequently for as long as I can remember, but Ma tells me that these natural disasters only used to happen once in a while.

From Literature