occasional

oc·ca·sion·al

adjective \-ˈkāzh-nəl, -ˈkā-zhə-n^əl\

Definition of OCCASIONAL

1

a : of or relating to a particular occasion <a budget able to meet occasional demands as well as regular ones>

b : created for a particular occasion <occasional verse>

2

: acting as the occasion or contributing cause of something

3

: encountered, occurring, appearing, or taken at irregular or infrequent intervals <occasional visitors> <an occasional vacation>

4

: acting in a specified capacity from time to time <an occasional lecturer>

5

: designed or constructed to be used as the occasion demands <occasional furniture>

Examples of OCCASIONAL

1. She receives occasional phone calls from her mother.
2. There will be occasional showers during the morning.
3. Most mornings, we'll see deer or the occasional bear walking past our house.
4. He tells an occasional joke to keep his students interested.
5. I need to take occasional breaks from work.
6. Sure, I drink an occasional glass of wine from time to time.
7. She's an occasional lecturer at the university.

First Known Use of OCCASIONAL

circa 1631

Related to OCCASIONAL

Synonyms

aperiodic, casual, catchy, choppy, discontinuous, episodic (also episodical), erratic, intermittent, irregular, fitful, spasmodic, spastic, sporadic, spotty, unsteady

Antonyms

constant, continuous, habitual, periodic, regular, repeated, steady

Related Words

convulsive, sudden, violent; broken, disconnected, fragmentary, interrupted; aimless, arbitrary, desultory, haphazard, hit-and-miss, hit-or-miss, odd, random, scattered, slapdash, stray; capricious, changeful, changing, flickery, fluctuating, fluid, inconstant, mercurial, mutable, temperamental, uncertain, unpredictable, unsettled, unstable, varying, wavering; changeable, fickle, variable, volatile

Near Antonyms

changeless, equable, even, stable, stationary, uniform; unchanging, unvarying, unwavering; methodical (also methodic), orderly, systematic; unrelenting, unremitting

Rhymes with OCCASIONAL

equational