Meanings
- idiomaticnot comparableOccasionally; sometimes.
I send her a note once in a while to let her know I'm thinking of her.
2 more examples
He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him.
1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 2Now, the three stepgirls and their brother call once in a while, maybe drop by if they need a babysitter.
2003, Janice Daugharty, “You’re No Angel Yourself”, in Hugh Ruppersburg, editor, After O’Connor: Stories from Contemporary Georgia, Athens, Ga.: University of Georgia Press, →ISBN, page 59Synonyms: at times, ever and anon, every once in a while, every now and then, every so often, from time to time, intermittently, irregularly
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbOccasionally; sometimes.
More synonyms by meaning
adverbsporadically and infrequently
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Translations
Bulgarian понякога, от време на време
- понякога (ponjakoga)occasionally
- от време на време (ot vreme na vreme)occasionally
Chinese Mandarin 偶爾 /偶尔, 隔三差五
- 偶爾 /偶尔 (ǒu'ěr)occasionally
- 隔三差五 (gésānchàwǔ)occasionally
Danish en gang imellem, indimellem
- en gang imellemoccasionally
- indimellemoccasionally
Dutch nu en dan
- nu en danoccasionally
Esperanto de tempo al tempo
- de tempo al tempooccasionally
Finnish ajoittain, silloin tällöin
- ajoittainoccasionally
- silloin tällöinoccasionally
French de temps en temps
- de temps en tempsoccasionally
German ab und zu
- ab und zuoccasionally
Greek κάπου-κάπου, κάθε τόσο
- κάπου-κάπου (kápou-kápou)occasionally
- κάθε τόσο (káthe tóso)occasionally
- κατά διαστήματα (katá diastímata)occasionally
- πού και πού (poú kai poú)occasionally
- μια στο τόσοoccasionally
Hungarian nagy ritkán, nagy néha
- nagy ritkánoccasionally
- nagy néhaoccasionally
- időnkéntoccasionally
- olykoroccasionally
- olykor-olykoroccasionally
- néhaoccasionally
- néha-néhaoccasionally
- hébe-hóbaoccasionally
Italian di tanto in tanto
- di tanto in tantooccasionally
Norwegian Bokmål av og til, nå og da
- av og tiloccasionally
- nå og daoccasionally
- i gang i mellomoccasionally
Polish raz na jakiś czas
- raz na jakiś czasoccasionally
Portuguese de vez em quando
- de vez em quandooccasionally
Russian иногда́, вре́мя от вре́мени
- иногда́ (inogdá)occasionally
- вре́мя от вре́мени (vrémja ot vrémeni)occasionally
- поро́й (porój)occasionally
Spanish de vez en cuando
- de vez en cuandooccasionally
Swedish då och då
- då och dåoccasionally
Cite this entry
once in a while. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/once%20in%20a%20while
“once in a while.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/once%20in%20a%20while. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “once in a while,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/once%20in%20a%20while.
Source: once in a while on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.