Meanings
- literarynot comparableSynonym of occasionally, now and then.
Ever and anon a bright, but, alas, deceptive idea would dart you through.
1851 November 14, Herman Melville, chapter 3, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 123 more examples
I could see Salemina at the far end of the table radiant with success, the W. S. at her side bending ever and anon to catch the (artificial) pearls of thought that dropped from her lips.
1898, Kate Douglas Wiggin, chapter 6, in Penelope’s Progress […], Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLCEver and anon the guard's face could be dimly seen at his window, more like a ghost than a man; [...].
1944 May and June, “When the Circle was Steam Operated”, in Railway Magazine, page 134Pippin never forgot that hour in the great hall under the piercing eye of the Lord of Gondor, stabbed ever and anon by his shrewd questions
1955, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King, Book V, Chapter 1Synonyms: occasionally, now and then
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbSynonym of occasionally, now and then.
Cite this entry
ever and anon. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ever%20and%20anon
“ever and anon.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ever%20and%20anon. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ever and anon,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ever%20and%20anon.
Source: ever and anon on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.