Meanings
- USnot comparableelsewhere archaicFrequently; often.
Pique and linen also accented several coats and oftentimes were both detachable and formed an overcollar covering a collar made from the coat fabric.
1967, Ann Helen Stroup, An Investigation of the Dress of American Children from 1930 Through 1941 with Emphasis on Factors Influencing Change, page 1952 more examples
But because this is oftentimes dangerous, and much hurt hath been received thereby through casualty of fire, I advise the sticking four stakes into the earth, at least five feet above the ground […]
1804, Robert Wissett, On the Cultivation and Preparation of HempOver the past decade, the very nature of organized crime has changed, with many groups diversifying their income beyond drug trafficking, and large cartels splintering into smaller, oftentimes more nimble groups.
2023 January 10, Whitney Eulich, America Armenta, “Mexico arrests son of ‘El Chapo’: Why don’t citizens feel safer?”, in The Christian Science Monitor
Synonyms & antonyms
More synonyms by meaning
adverbmany times at short intervals
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishoftentymes
- Englishoftentimes
Inherited from Middle English oftentymes. By surface analysis, oftentime + -s. Compare oftentime. Compare also German oftmals, Middle French souventesfois.
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic كَثِيرَ المَرَاتِ
- كَثِيرَ المَرَاتِ (kaṯīra l-marāti)frequently
Basque maiz
- maizfrequently
Czech častokrát, mnohdy
- častokrátfrequently
- mnohdyrepeatedly
French souventesfois, souventefois
- souventesfoisfrequently
- souventefoisfrequently
- souventfrequently
German oftmals, oft
- oftmalsfrequently
- oftfrequently
Italian frequentemente, ripetutamente
- frequentementefrequently
- ripetutamenterepeatedly
Norwegian ofte
- oftefrequently
Norwegian Bokmål om og om igjen
- om og om igjenrepeatedly
Romanian frecvent, deseori
- frecventfrequently
- deseorifrequently
- repetatrepeatedly
Russian ча́сто, многокра́тно
- ча́сто (částo)frequently
- многокра́тно (mnogokrátno)repeatedly
Spanish frecuentemente, reiteradamente
- frecuentementefrequently
- reiteradamenterepeatedly
- repetidamenterepeatedly
Swedish ofta, om och om igen
- oftafrequently
- om och om igenrepeatedly
Cite this entry
oftentimes. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oftentimes
“oftentimes.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oftentimes. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “oftentimes,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/oftentimes.
Source: oftentimes on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.