Meanings
- not comparableOccasionally; intermittently; irregularly; now and then; once in a while.
Check on the houseplants every so often to see if they need watering.
1 more example
But Raven knows where he's going. Occasionally, he reaches out, grabs her hand, but he doesn't yank her around even though she's going a lot slower than he is. Every so often, he looks back at her with a grin, like, I could hurt you, but I won't.
1992, Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash, page 321
Synonyms & antonyms
adverboccasionally
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Dutch van tijd tot tijd, af en toe
- van tijd tot tijdoccasionally
- af en toeoccasionally
French de temps en temps
- de temps en tempsoccasionally
German ab und zu
- ab und zuoccasionally
Greek σποραδικά, κατά καιρούς
- σποραδικά (sporadiká)occasionally
- κατά καιρούς (katá kairoús)occasionally
- κατά διαστήματα (katá diastímata)occasionally
Italian ogni tanto, di tanto in tanto
- ogni tantooccasionally
- di tanto in tantooccasionally
Russian время от времени
- время от времени (vremja ot vremeni)occasionally
Spanish de vez en cuando
- de vez en cuandooccasionally
Swedish då och då, lite då och då
- då och dåoccasionally
- lite då och dåoccasionally
- med jämna mellanrumoccasionally
Cite this entry
every so often. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/every%20so%20often
“every so often.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/every%20so%20often. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “every so often,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/every%20so%20often.
Source: every so often on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.