sporadically
Americanadverb
-
every now and then; at irregular intervals in time.
Ox-eye sunflowers bloom sporadically throughout the summer.
-
here and there; in scattered locations.
Little candles, placed sporadically among the chapel pews, lit up people’s faces.
Etymology
Origin of sporadically
First recorded in 1675–85; sporadic ( def. ) + -ally ( def. )
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.
Now luxury hotels and shopping malls, high-rise apartment blocks, state-of-the-art airport departure terminals are getting sporadically hit as gaps appear in the Arab states' air defences in the Gulf.
From BBC
Once the Advance had sailed far enough north, letters could only be sent or received sporadically, when passed from ship to ship.
From Literature
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Nvidia’s share price has gone through other periods of turbulence over the past three years, as investors have sporadically worried about blowout AI spending creating a bubble that could suddenly burst.
Williams has played only sporadically in recent years.
From Barron's
Now rubbish is only collected sporadically and despite the oil reserves, the region has been hit by a severe energy crisis over the past decade with blackouts reported almost daily.
From BBC
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.