sporadic
Americanadjective
-
(of similar things or occurrences) appearing or happening at irregular intervals in time; occasional.
sporadic renewals of enthusiasm.
- Antonyms:
- continuous
-
appearing in scattered or isolated instances, as a disease.
-
isolated, as a single instance of something; being or occurring apart from others.
- Synonyms:
- unconnected, separate
-
occurring singly or widely apart in locality.
the sporadic growth of plants.
adjective
-
occurring at irregular points in time; intermittent
sporadic firing
-
scattered; isolated
a sporadic disease
Other Word Forms
- sporadically adverb
- sporadicalness noun
- sporadicity noun
- sporadism noun
Etymology
Origin of 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; spore, -ic
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.
Rural school was sporadic; household chores—scrubbing shirts, sweeping ashes, carrying wood and water—were endless.
From Literature
"It wasn't sporadic. It was furious. You could tell there were a lot of people outside."
From BBC
But smaller sporadic protests continue through the night.
From BBC
They try to stay in touch with loved ones through phone calls and WhatsApp messages, but the secrecy around carrier movements means their communication with their families is sporadic and unpredictable.
As a victim of increasingly effective gunnery, Arundel also epitomized another development that would expedite the end of England’s sporadic efforts to subdue the rival realm.
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.
