sporadic

First recorded in 1680–90; from Medieval Latin sporadicus, from Greek sporadikós, equivalent to sporad- (stem of sporás “strewn,” akin to sporá “sowing, seed”) + -ikos adjective suffix; see spore, -ic

OTHER WORDS FROM sporadic

spo·rad·i·cal·ly, adverbspo·rad·i·cal·ness, nounspo·ra·dic·i·ty

[spawr-uh-dis-i-tee], /ˌspɔr əˈdɪs ɪ ti/, spo·ra·dism, noun

Words nearby sporadic

spoonworm, spoony, spoor, spor-, Sporades, sporadic, sporadically, sporangiophore, sporangiospore, sporangium, spore

How to use sporadic in a sentence

Also, heat consistency can be a bit sporadic depending on the temperature outside.
Best hand warmers: Block the chill during your favorite winter activities|PopSci Commerce Team|February 10, 2021|Popular-Science
Orders are sporadic — sometimes four or five come in one night, sometimes just one per week.
Restaurants Avoiding Big Delivery Apps Have to Get Creative|Kristen Hawley|February 1, 2021|Eater
Dating during the pandemic has been pretty sporadic for him, too.
Date Lab update: Neither had planned to go on their setup. Today, they’re both still playing it by ear.|Maureen O'Connor|December 10, 2020|Washington Post
Looking up Spector’s bylined stories over the decades that mention Fauci, one finds that the pattern of their contact appears more sporadic than this book and its marketing material suggest.
Familiar Fauci anecdotes, told with a Brooklyn accent|Amy Goldstein|October 30, 2020|Washington Post

There have only been sporadic instances of outdoor transmission.
What You Need to Know About Wearing a Face Mask Outside|Joe Lindsey|September 30, 2020|Outside Online
This is where the sporadic and hectic handling of the romance in the movies fails.
Team Peeta or Team Gale: Why the ‘Hunger Games’ Love Triangle Ruins ‘Mockingjay – Part 1’|Kevin Fallon|November 28, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The chanting—so much a part of protests here for the past 100-plus days—was sporadic through Monday night.
Raging Protesters Set Ferguson on Fire|Justin Glawe|November 25, 2014|DAILY BEAST
I left Lebanon in June 2012, but we kept in sporadic touch via Facebook.
ISIS Thugs Behead Peter Kassig|Nick Schwellenbach|October 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Sporadic riots and fires did break out later during the festival.
A Brief History of the Phrase 'F*ck the Police'|Rich Goldstein|August 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Since then there have been a few sporadic accounts of what happened.
How the U.S.-favored Kurds Abandoned the Yazidis when ISIS Attacked|Christine van den Toorn|August 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Then a silence ensued, broken at first by sporadic and staccato remarks, then becoming as dense as the silences of the night.
Ancestors|Gertrude Atherton
Then sporadic rumours began to creep about, and the atmosphere became charged.
Forging the Blades|Bertram Mitford
In the Third Culture Epoch there was found “copper, with sporadic appearance of low percentage of tin.”
The New Stone Age in Northern Europe|John M. Tyler
Three times the old blood-feud had broken into sporadic outbursts, and three men had been shot.
The Code of the Mountains|Charles Neville Buck
The other two are genuinely new creations, if we except certain sporadic beginnings that occur in the transitional culture.
Elements of Folk Psychology|Wilhelm Wundt

British Dictionary definitions for sporadic

sporadic

/ (spəˈrædɪk) /

adjective

occurring at irregular points in time; intermittentsporadic firing

scattered; isolateda sporadic disease

Derived forms of sporadic

sporadically, adverbsporadicalness, noun

Word Origin for sporadic

C17: from Medieval Latin sporadicus, from Greek sporadikos, from sporas scattered; related to Greek speirein to sow; see spore

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

sporadic

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Origin of sporadic

OTHER WORDS FROM sporadic

Words nearby sporadic

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How to use sporadic in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for sporadic

Derived forms of sporadic

Word Origin for sporadic