What does Occasional mean?

Definitions for Occasional
əˈkeɪ ʒə nloc·ca·sion·al

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word Occasional.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. occasional(a)adjective

    occurring from time to time

    "took an occasional glass of wine"

  2. episodic, occasionaladjective

    occurring or appearing at usually irregular intervals

    "episodic in his affections"; "occasional headaches"

  3. casual, occasionaladjective

    occurring from time to time

    "casual employment"; "a casual correspondence with a former teacher"; "an occasional worker"

  4. periodic, occasionaladjective

    recurring or reappearing from time to time

    "periodic feelings of anxiety"

GCIDE

  1. Occasionaladjective

    Of or pertaining to an occasion or to occasions; intended for a specific occasion; for use only when needed, and not regularly.

Wiktionary

  1. occasionaladjective

    Occurring or appearing irregularly from time to time.

    He was mostly solitary, but enjoyed the occasional visitor.

  2. occasionaladjective

    Not very often.

    He took an occasional glass of wine.

  3. occasionaladjective

    Created for a specific occasion.

    Elgar's music was not created to be occasional music for high-school graduations.

  4. occasionaladjective

    Intended for use as the occasion requires.

    What your living room needs are some occasional chairs.

  5. occasionaladjective

    Acting in the indicated role from time to time.

    He is an occasional contributor to letters to the editor.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Occasionaladjective

    Etymology: occasionel, Fr. from occasion.

    Thus much is sufficient out of scripture, to verify our explication of the deluge, according to the Mosaical history of the flood, and according to many occasional reflections dispersed in other places of scripture concerning it. Burnet.

    The ground or occasional original hereof, was the amazement and sudden silence the unexpected appearance of wolves does often put upon travellers. Thomas Browne, Vulgar Errours.

    Those letters were not writ to all;
    Nor first intended but occasional,
    Their absent sermons. John Dryden, Hind. and Panth.

ChatGPT

  1. occasional

    Occasional refers to something that happens or appears from time to time in irregular, infrequent intervals, or happens on special or random occasions rather than on a continuous, regular, or systematic basis. It also refers to something that is performed, used, or suitable for specific events or occasions.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Occasionaladjective

    of or pertaining to an occasion or to occasions; occuring at times, but not constant, regular, or systematic; made or happening as opportunity requires or admits; casual; incidental; as, occasional remarks, or efforts

  2. Occasionaladjective

    produced by accident; as, the occasional origin of a thing

  3. Etymology: [Cf. F. occasionnel.]

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'Occasional' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3616

  2. Adjectives Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'Occasional' in Adjectives Frequency: #491

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

How to pronounce Occasional?

How to say Occasional in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of Occasional in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of Occasional in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of Occasional in a Sentence

  1. William Schaffner:

    This is largely a problem when it comes to severe disease, the disease that requires hospitalization, it's among the unvaccinated. It really is pretty unusual to have a vaccinated person be hospitalized. Most of those people tend to be older and very, very frail. They never were able to respond to the vaccine, and we have the occasional immunocompromised person whose immune system also couldn't respond optimally to the vaccine, so the unvaccinated continue to be the big highway of transmission. The vaccinated, they're little side streets. Let's not get preoccupied with that. We need to get more people vaccinated.

  2. Bill Robles:

    The girls would have outbursts. He would have occasional outbursts. They would all do the same thing and copy him. One time they removed him from the courtroom and put him a holding cell, behind a locked door with a little screen, at one point he was agitated and (said) something to the effect of 'Somebody ought to cut your head off, judge' ... And before you knew it, Bingo! He was leaping toward the judge. The bailiff tackled him in midair.

  3. Ken Smith:

    These occasional instances of human to animal transmission of Covid-19 do not in any way detract from the fact that all current evidence shows that the pandemic is driven by human to human transmission.

  4. Jim Ritterbusch:

    Despite what we view as a balanced oil market both domestically and globally, oil pricing is apparently still sensitive to evolving developments in the Persian Gulf where occasional minor military events are slowly cranking up geopolitical risk premium.

  5. Dan Abrams:

    I am troubled by the fervor, occasional glee, and potentially disproportionate fury emanating from an unusual assortment of allies now determined to end Brian’s storied career based on what we know today. This alliance of certaincapital-J journalists,conservative bloggers, and some who simply despise any rich and famous journalist are a formidable force.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

Occasional#1#8529#10000

Translations for Occasional

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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"Occasional." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2025. Web. 6 Feb. 2025. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/Occasional>.

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