Meanings
alternative on-and-off · alternative off and on
- idiomaticnot comparableIntermittently.
With so much worry, I only slept on and off last night.
1 more example
But Yemen has been at war, on and off, since 2014 and this latest upsurge in fighting is made more complicated by the fact the Houthis are backed by Iran which is in its own on-off war with the US.
2026 September 21, Chris Mason, Frank Gardner, Isabella Allen, Richard Wheeler, “UK to help refuel Saudi jets countering Houthi attacks”, in BBC News, retrieved 22 Sep 2026
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbnot regularly
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Chinese Mandarin 断断续续地
- 断断续续地 (duànduànxùxùdì)intermittently
Dutch af en aan
- af en aanintermittently
Finnish ajoittain, pätkittäin
- ajoittainintermittently
- pätkittäinintermittently
- katkonaisestiintermittently
French par intermittence
- par intermittenceintermittently
German ab und zu
- ab und zuintermittently
Greek κατά διαλείμματα
- κατά διαλείμματα (katá dialeímmata)intermittently
Norwegian Bokmål til og fra
- til og fraintermittently
Polish zrywami
- zrywamiintermittently
Russian уры́вками
- уры́вками (urývkami)intermittently
Spanish intermitentemente, de vez en cuando
- intermitentementeintermittently
- de vez en cuandointermittently
- a intervalosintermittently
Swedish till och från
- till och frånintermittently
Cite this entry
on and off. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20and%20off
“on and off.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20and%20off. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “on and off,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/on%20and%20off.
Source: on and off on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.