frequently
Americanadverb
Synonym Usage
See often.
Etymology
Origin of frequently
Explanation
If you do something frequently, you do it repeatedly, again and again. If you frequently visit the cookie jar, you might gain some unwanted pounds. Doctors and nurses have to wash their hands frequently, many times each day, since they touch various patients and don't want to spread germs. When you're driving in rush hour traffic, you usually find yourself stopping frequently. Things that occur over and over, especially in a relatively short time frame, happen frequently. The adverb frequently comes from the adjective frequent, which originally meant "profuse or ample," from the Latin root frequentem, "crowded or repeated."
Vocabulary lists containing frequently
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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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.
She is frequently by Trump’s side, often smiling and staring fixedly at him, and once reportedly rode in an SUV trunk to accompany him to a court date because there wasn’t a seat for her.
From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026
Greater issuance of shorter-term debt leads to its own problems, with a risk of greater volatility as debt needs to be replaced more frequently.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026
More than 30 million adults in the U.S. have some form of the condition, and the knee is the joint most frequently affected.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026
Bass frequently resorted to her trademark nervous laughter and repeated obviously crafted lines with all the enthusiasm of someone gulping down cod oil.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2026
He looked frequently to his right, to see if anything else was floating toward him, and glanced occasionally to his left, at Moose.
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
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.
